[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 53 (Thursday, April 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E639-E640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NATIONAL COMMEMORATION OF THE DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 22, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, today in the great rotunda of the Capitol 
Building, the annual Days of Remembrance ceremony was held to remind us 
of the victims of the Holocaust and again commit ourselves that such a 
horror shall never again take place. It was my great privilege to join 
other Members of Congress and leaders in lighting one of the six 
candles in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.
  The focus of today's commemoration was particularly meaningful for 
me, Mr. Speaker, because this year marks the 60th anniversary of the 
Holocaust in Hungary. In March of 1944, Nazi German troops occupied 
Hungary. Hungary had been an ally of Hitler, but as Germany began to 
fall back before the advancing Soviet army, the German high command was 
uncertain about Hungary's loyalty. Germany occupied Hungary, 
established a puppet regime in Budapest, and Adolf Eichmann was sent to 
Hungary to oversee the elimination of Hungary's entire Jewish 
population.
  As the Germans began to move against Hungary's population, the United 
States took action to help preserve the Jewish population. The U.S. War 
Refugee Board was established in January 1944. On March 25, 1944--less 
than a week after German troops occupied Hungary--President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt called for the rescue of the Jewish population in Hungary: 
``In the name of justice and humanity let all freedom loving people 
rally to this righteous undertaking.''
  Mr. Speaker, at the request and through the involvement of the U.S. 
War Refugee Board, Swedish businessman Raoul Wallenberg was given 
diplomatic status and sent by his government to Budapest. He and his 
Swedish colleagues, including Per Anger, helped protect tens of 
thousands of Hungarian Jews from being deported to Auschwitz by 
distributing protective Swedish passports or travel papers. With funds 
provided by the United States he also rented apartment blocks and 
declared them protected Swedish diplomatic enclaves, and he was able to 
protect numerous Jews in these buildings.
  Carl Lutz, a Swiss diplomat, also issued certificates of emigration 
that placed thousands of Jews in Budapest under Swiss protection. 
Italian businessman Giorgio Perlasca, posing as a Spanish diplomat, 
issued forged Spanish visas and established under his ``authority'' 
safe houses, including one for Jewish children. Many other diplomats, 
including the Portuguese diplomat Branquinho, were active in saving 
lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I was one of those fortunate individuals who were able 
to find refuge in one of the Wallenberg safe houses after I 
successfully escaped from a forced labor camp north of Budapest. Most 
of the members of my family and a large portion of my wife Annette's 
family were killed during that dark period.
  When Soviet military forces liberated Budapest in January and 
February 1945, more than 100,000 Jews were still alive in the city 
because of the efforts of Wallenberg, Lutz, Perlasca, and other 
diplomats and individuals. There are many individuals alive today--as 
well as our children and grandchildren--because of the work of these 
individuals and the efforts of the United States War Refugee Board.
  Mr. Speaker, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust in 
Hungary, I urge my colleagues to join me in this solemn remembrance. At 
the same time, I urge all of us to recommit ourselves to fighting 
against the evils that led to the Holocaust--anti-Semitism, racism, 
bigotry, and intolerance. Unfortunately,

[[Page E640]]

as we have seen too often lately, these precursors to violence and the 
murder of innocents have not been eradicated. We have seen a resurgence 
of anti-Semitism in many places in Europe. We have seen religious 
extremists in the Middle East and elsewhere carrying out horrendous 
atrocities against others in the misused name of their God. We have 
seen ethnic differences lead to genocide in Africa--a tragic event 
whose 10th anniversary we marked just a few days ago.
  Mr. Speaker, let us recommit ourselves to fight against the 
intolerance and bigotry that led to the Holocaust and that continues to 
produce such suffering and tragedy in our world. Let us recommit 
ourselves to respect for individual differences and to fight for human 
rights.

                          ____________________