[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REMARKS BY MILES LERMAN AT THE NATIONAL DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY

                                 ______


                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 30, 1996

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on April 16, Members of Congress, members of 
the Diplomatic Corps and hundreds of survivors of the Holocaust and 
their friends gathered here in the Capitol Rotunda for the National 
Days of Remembrance commemoration. The United States Holocaust Memorial 
Council was established by Congress to preserve the memory of the 
victims of the Holocaust. I commend the Council and the members of the 
Days of Remembrance Committee, chaired by my good friend Benjamin Meed, 
for their vigilant and genuine adherence to their extraordinarily 
important task.
  One of the first acts of the Council was to establish the annual Days 
of Remembrance commemoration to mirror similar observances held in 
Israel and throughout our Nation and elsewhere in the world. This year, 
the commemoration centered on the 50th anniversary of the Nuremberg 
trials. The observance was a reminder of the difficult process of first 
coping and then healing that all survivors and their families and loved 
ones had to endure.
  I commend my colleagues' attention to the insightful comments of my 
good friend Miles Lerman. Miles was instrumental in bringing the dream 
of the Holocaust Memorial Museum to reality, an immense project that is 
universally regarded as a resounding success. As Chairman of the U.S. 
Holocaust Memorial Council, Miles is appointed by the President to 
coordinate our national effort to memorialize the victims of the 
Holocaust and to teach all Americans its many lessons. His words at the 
National Days of Remembrance commemoration are a demonstration of his 
outstanding ability to carry out this important task.

                      Days of Remembrance Ceremony

                           (By Miles Lerman)

       Distinguished Dignitaries, Honorable Members of Congress, 
     ladies and gentlemen.
       The theme of this year's days of remembrance is the 50th 
     anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials. What makes these trials 
     so significant is the fact that the Allied Forces after 
     victory did not pursue vengeance. Instead they chose to 
     implement a due process of law to hold the German political 
     and military leaders personally accountable for the heinous 
     crimes they committed against humanity.
       We will hear more of those trial proceedings from Justice 
     Breyer, who will analyze the uniqueness of the Nuremberg 
     trials and place them in the proper historic prospective.
       I will, therefore, concentrate my remarks on the importance 
     of remembrance.
       Remembrance serves many purposes. It helps us look back and 
     wonder how different the fate of Holocaust victims would have 
     been if the Western leaders of those days would have had the 
     stamina at the outset to stand up to Adolph Hitler--a 
     political megalomaniac whose appetite for territorial 
     expansion was unsatiated; whose wild dream of developing a 
     Deutsche heren rasse--a German super race which would enslave 
     all nations he would conquer and create a Third Reich that 
     would last a thousand years.
       This insanity could have been stopped in time but it was 
     not. The leaders of Britain and France wanted to believe that 
     they could reason with Adolph Hitler and thus continued to 
     give in to his constantly escalating demands until they 
     finally came to realize that they were dealing with a monster 
     that must be subdued at any price.
       By this time, however, Hitler had managed to build a 
     powerful war machine which took enormous sacrifices on the 
     part of all Allied Armies who waged battles from the desserts 
     of Africa to Leningrad and Normandy to defeat the Nazi 
     monster.
       It took 6 years of bloody battles with millions of 
     casualties and billions of dollars of military equipment to 
     put an end to the Nazi nightmare that could have been stopped 
     at a much earlier stage.
       It is a myth--it is a falsehood to believe that only Hitler 
     and his SS henchmen were the ones who were responsible for 
     the mass murder.
       In the Archives of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in 
     Washington, we have documents proving that the entire 
     industrial complex of Nazi Germany was involved in the 
     process of mass annihilation. We have documents of German 
     engineering firms praising the efficiency of the crematories 
     they are offering for sale.
       We have copies of authentic bids from German chemical 
     companies soliciting the orders for the Cyclone B gas 
     enunciating the economic efficiency of their product for the 
     mass killing of women and children.
       We dwell on this past not to inflame fury, but because we 
     believe that in the ashes of this tragic past lies an all 
     important lesson essential to our collective future as a 
     democratic and free society where human differences are 
     respected and human rights are protected.
       This is what the Holocaust Memorial Museum is all about.
       When the Nazi nightmare was finally brought to an end, the 
     world chose to believe that the lessons of this 
     horrible period would once and for all put an end to 
     hatred and bigotry.
       Today, 50 years later, we must admit that we were naively 
     optimistic. The sad facts are, the world has not learned its 
     lesson. Once again, we are confronted with savageries of the 
     worst kind all over the world.
       Futile ethnic cleansings and senseless carnage are still 
     rampant. Not only in the distant places such as former 
     Yugoslavia and Rwanda, but the venom of hatred and bigotry 
     has embedded itself even in the heartland of America. This 
     phenomena should be of great concern to all of us.
       There are, however, those who argue not to pay too much 
     attention to these crackpots because they are only a marginal 
     fringe of our democratic society. So permit me to invoke 
     memory and remind you that the same arguments were heard in 
     Germany in the early 30's when Hitler began his quest for 
     power.
       Today we are beginning to see more and more blatant 
     disregard and lack of respect for the sanctity of martyrdom.
       Let me cite to you just two examples. Only recently have we 
     learned that Franjo Tudjman, the President of Croatia, has 
     announced plans to bring to Jasenovac the bones of the 
     Croatian Ustashis. The Ustashis were Hitler's most willing 
     collaborators.
       Today, President Tudjman wants to mingle the bones of the 
     Ustashis killers with the bones of victims whom they have 
     murdered in Jasenovac.
       Jasenovac is the largest death camp of Yugoslavia where 
     tens of thousands of victims are buried in mass graves.
       This proposed callous desecration of the Jasenovac Memorial 
     cannot be permitted to happen.
       I have conveyed to President Tudjman our outrage over this 
     defilement and have advised him that the U.S. Holocaust 
     Memorial Council will not remain silent until these evil 
     plans are scrapped.
       Another example is Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, plans were in 
     the making to build a shopping center only 100 yards away 
     from the camp perimeter. Again, we expressed our dismay, we 
     intervened and protested--this time successfully. I am 
     pleased to inform you that I have received written 
     confirmation from Polish Ambassador, Jerzy Kozminsky, that 
     the development of the shopping center within the confines of 
     Auschwitz has been canceled.
       The Polish authorities are to be commended for putting a 
     stop to what would have been a painful desecration of memory.
       The Nuremberg trials teach us that we cannot remain 
     indifferent; we cannot look the other way when evil plans are 
     in the making; when atrocities take place and the truth is 
     distorted. We must always be ready to speak out against evil 
     no matter where it takes place--and no matter who the victims 
     are.
       The victims of the Nazi inferno deserve the dignity of 
     being left in peace and we at the Holocaust Memorial Council 
     are determined to do all that is in our power to make sure 
     that the ashes of the victims remain undefiled and 
     undisturbed. This is our sacred task that we must fulfill 
     today, tomorrow and in years to come.

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