[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 48 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E673]]



  NATIONAL COMMEMORATION OF THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE--CHILDREN OF THE 
                 HOLOCAUST: THEIR MEMORIES, OUR LEGACY

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 27, 1998

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was honored last Thursday, April 23 to 
participate in the National Civic Commemoration of the Days of 
Remembrance, the United State's annual national Holocaust memorial 
service. The theme of this year's commemoration was ``Children of the 
Holocaust: Their Memories, Our Legacy.''
  The moving ceremony began with a processional and the presentation of 
the flags of the United States Army Divisions that liberated 
concentration camps. Following the Presentation of the Colors and the 
National Anthem, Benjamin Meed, Chairperson of the Days of Remembrance 
Committee made opening remarks recalling the horror he felt as a child 
in hiding in Warsaw as other Jewish children in the Warsaw ghetto were 
brutally burned to death. His Excellency Eliahu Ben Elissar, the 
Ambassador of Israel to the United States, remarked upon the legacy of 
the Holocaust from the perspective of the State of Israel's 50th 
Anniversary.
  Mr. Speaker, I was deeply touched by the beautiful voice of Staff 
Sergeant Beverly Benda, accompanied by the U.S. Army Band (Pershing's 
Own). Sergeant Benda sang ``Oyfn Pripeshik'' (At the Fireplace), a song 
used in hidden ghetto classrooms to teach children the alphabet. The 
translation of the end of the song reads:
  ``When you grow older you will understand that this alphabet contains 
the tears and the weeping of our people. When you grow weary and 
burdened with exile, you will find comfort and strength within this 
Jewish Alphabet.''
  Miles Lerman and Ruth Mandel, Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the 
United States Holocaust Memorial Council, noted the role of the United 
States Holocaust Memorial in allowing new generations of Americans to 
learn about the horrors of the Holocaust--the first step in 
understanding how it occurred and how we can prevent it from ever 
happening again. The keynote address by Yale University President 
Richard C. Levin elaborated on the theme of remembrance as the key to 
understanding. Dan Napolitano, a teacher at Georgetown Preparatory 
School, related how his experience as a student and teacher of the 
Holocaust and the history of anti-Semitism have reshaped his view of 
himself as a Catholic, a Christian, and a member of the human race.
  As Josef Hapli and Rebecca Levy read heartbreaking excerpts from 
Children's Diaries of the Holocaust, pairs of Holocaust Survivors and 
Members of Congress lit memorial candles. I was honored to light the 
last candle with my constituent Alex Mutz, a survivor of three ghettos 
and five concentration camps. Others lighting candles of remembrance 
were Senator Arlen Specter and Betty Grossman Goodfriend; Rabbi Alfred 
Gottschalk; Representative Christopher Cannon and Charlene Perlmutter 
Schiff; Representative Carolyn Maloney; and Representative Jim Kolbe 
and George S. Pick. Tiffany Nickels of Romani heritage placed a rose 
among the candles to memorialize the fate of the Roma and Sinti 
murdered by the Nazis.
  The Remembrance Program concluded with the singing of the service for 
the dead, ``El Moleh Rachamim,'' and the Hymn of the Partisans by 
Cantor Alberto Mizrahi and the recitation of the ``Kaddish'' led by 
Sigmund Strochlitz.
  Mr. Speaker, I thaink Chairperson Benjamin Meed for giving me the 
privilege to play a small role in this remembrance program. It is an 
experience I will always remember and treasure. I ask all my colleagues 
to take this occasion to remember the tragedy of the Holocaust and to 
ensure that our children and our children's children learn about it, so 
that we can all work together to ensure that it will never happen 
again.

                          ____________________