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




     DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR THE HEROES AND MARTYRS OF THE HOLOCAUST

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 22, 2004

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the House 
to the Day of Remembrance for the Heroes and Martyrs of the Holocaust. 
Today is the National Commemoration day, and the Rotunda of the Capitol 
again will serve as the focal point of America's obligation to 
remember. Sadly, the Holocaust is not old news, even though the last 
camp was liberated in 1945, even though the last victim was killed in 
1945, even though the Nazi regime fell in 1945.
  Unfortunately Mr. Speaker, the Holocaust is a current event. It is 
not then, it is now. It is today, it is this moment. Today in America, 
Holocaust survivors are still struggling to win back their lost 
property and overdue compensation. Today in Europe, on the same streets 
the Nazis declared Judenrein--Jew-free--Jews are again being attacked 
and assaulted. Today around the world, newspapers and media outlets are 
spewing vicious, venomous anti-Semitic lies and incitement. Today in 
other countries, ethnic cleansing is taking place. Today, intolerance, 
xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism are realities in our world, and 
we cannot ignore this fact.
  Our obligation as a nation which has adopted the ethos of ``Never 
Again,'' at a very bare minimum, is to remember. Our national 
commitment to remember the Holocaust is worth reflecting on and is 
something we can be proud of as long as we remain vigilant and aware of 
the unique nature of this tragedy in human history.
  The American people's commitment is embodied in the U.S. Holocaust 
Memorial Museum and its ongoing mission. The American public also gives 
generously to non-profit groups that develop and share Holocaust 
education programs around the country. And most importantly, the United 
States remains an active and vocal supporter of universal human rights 
and guardian against the continued risk of genocide. There is, 
unfortunately, a justification for this activity beyond good 
heartedness.
  The shame of this country's refusal to either admit Jewish refugees 
from Nazi persecution or even to bomb the railway lines to the 
concentration camps will forever remain a blackmark on our national 
honor. While this loathsome chapter of our national history cannot be 
unwritten, we can and must pursue policies that ensure such tragedies 
never occur again. Refugees continue to deserve the protection and 
assistance of the United States, and we must never be afraid to 
intervene to prevent genocide or ethnic cleansing.
  We must also continue to build and strengthen the bonds of friendship 
and support between this nation and the State of Israel, which emerged 
out of the ashes of the Holocaust. While much of the world quibbles 
over, or disputes entirely, the right of the Jewish people to establish 
a state in their historic homeland, the United States has never for a 
moment doubted the rightness and morality of this enterprise or 
questioned the right of the Jewish people to have a state of their own. 
Indeed, many of those states which either assisted the Nazis in the 
liquidation of their Jewish populations, or simply sat by quietly as 
the Nazis fulfilled their vicious agenda, are today among Israel's most 
vigorous critics.
  By contrast, the United States is, and I hope always will be, 
Israel's closest ally and friend in the international community. I am 
proud of America's support for Israel, and I think it is no coincidence 
that the United States and this Congress do so much answer the call of 
memory the Holocaust demands.
  Today in the Capitol we recall the stark facts of the Holocaust: that 
in the years between 1933 and 1945, a modern, cultured, Western nation 
transformed from a democracy into a dictatorship; that this 
dictatorship initiated a war not only against the nations of Europe, 
but against the Jewish people; that to fulfill the mandate of genocide 
Nazi Germany established ghettos, special military killing units, a 
bureaucracy to manage the construction and operation of the 
concentration camps, slave labor camps and extermination camps, and a 
transportation system to bring Europe's Jews to their doom; and that at 
the end of the Nazis' regime, their campaign of persecution and 
annihilation had systematically murdered some 6,000,000 innocent Jews.
  Mr. Speaker, we must remember this. To ignore the Holocaust is to 
risk its repetition and to clear a path for deniers and bigots and 
their agenda of hate. The Holocaust must be remembered. As a moral 
nation, we can do no less.

                          ____________________