[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 32 (Thursday, February 27, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PERMITTING USE OF ROTUNDA OF CAPITOL FOR CEREMONY AS PART OF 
      COMMEMORATION OF DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE OF VICTIMS OF HOLOCAUST

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my 
support of H. Con Res 40, to allow the use of the Capitol rotunda for a 
ceremony to commemorate victims of the Holocaust. Our Nation's capitol 
is a symbol of freedom and democracy to so many. This resolution gives 
us a forum to pay service to the victims of the Holocaust. I pray that 
such a tragedy should never touch the world again.
  A Holocaust memorial is not something to be taken lightly, or to be 
rushed without its due respect. The Holocaust is a product of 
authoritarian government and evil intentions, and we must continue to 
study and remember it, lest it be repeated. Hate, genocide, racial 
supremacism still occur in parts of the world and I believe that we as 
Americans can still focus our efforts on stopping them before they grow 
to an uncontrollable magnitude.
  My heart goes out to the victims and survivors of Adolf Hitler's 
death camps. Every time I reexamine the Holocaust, and pay tribute to 
what happened, I am still shocked and pained by the organized, 
methodical killing that went on in Europe.
  For the 12 million people that Nazi Germany exterminated, we must 
remember. For each of the six million Jews killed, we must respond. For 
the Gypsies, the gays, the political dissenters and any of the 
righteous people who spoke out against what they thought was evil--for 
this we commemorate and remember the Holocaust. It can never happen 
again.

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