Congressional Record, Volume 151 Issue 21 (Tuesday, March 1, 2005)

[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 21 (Tuesday, March 1, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H803-H804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

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

Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 63) permitting the use of the
rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony as part of the commemoration of
the days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.
The Clerk read as follows:

H. Con. Res. 63

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),

SECTION 1. USE OF ROTUNDA FOR HOLOCAUST DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE
CEREMONY.

The rotunda of the Capitol is authorized to be used on May
5, 2005, for a ceremony as part of the commemoration of the
days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. Physical
preparations for the ceremony shall be carried out in
accordance with such conditions as the Architect of the
Capitol may prescribe.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney).
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be on the floor here today with the
gentlewoman from Nevada on an important resolution, H. Con. Res. 63.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is mandated by Congress
to educate Americans about the history of the Holocaust and to annually
honor and remember the victims of this catastrophic, horrible event. As
a Nation, we do this on the National Days of Remembrance. The purpose
of the Days of Remembrance is to ask all Americans to reflect on the
Holocaust, to remember the victims and renew our commitment to
democracy and human rights for every person.
House Concurrent Resolution 63, the resolution before us, will
provide this year's national ceremony, which will be conducted on May
5, 2005, in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol building.
Mr. Speaker, it is necessary to go through this procedure to use the
very sacred center of the Capitol for a ceremony in joint authorization
by both the House and the other body because of the significance of
this particular location and the significance and importance in this
building.
Outlining the importance of this event, there have been several high-
profile keynote speakers in the past, including former Secretary of
State Colin Powell, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President
George W. Bush, among others.
The theme of this year's Days of Remembrance commemoration is
entitled ``From Liberation to the Pursuit of Justice.'' The
commemoration will honor the courageous individuals, as well as the
organizations and countries who attempted to rescue them. How
appropriate I believe it is, Mr. Speaker, at this time that we remember
the victims of the Holocaust.
In remembering those who took a determined stance against Nazism, we
honor the memory of those who perished, and, of course, we are reminded
that individuals do have the power and the choice to make a difference
in the fight against oppression and murderous hatred.
Evil persists in the world, Mr. Speaker, but our triumph over the
perpetrators of the Holocaust reminds us that evil can and will be
defeated, but only if we have the courage to stand up to it. This is a
vital lesson, one we must never forget. This ceremony will help us to
remember it. This ceremony is important.
Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman for supporting this
resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today proudly in support of House Concurrent
Resolution 63, authorizing use of the Capitol Rotunda on May 5 of this
year for a ceremony sponsored by its United States Holocaust Memorial
Council to observe the Days of Remembrance for victims of the
Holocaust.
I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) for introducing
this, as well as the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-
McDonald), the original cosponsor of the bill. Unfortunately, she could
not be here because of a prior commitment in her congressional
district.
The Days of Remembrance ceremony honors those men, women and children
who suffered through one of the darkest periods of our history. Every
year, the Days of Remembrance recalls different historical events of
the Holocaust. This year's theme, ``From Liberation to Pursuit of
Justice,'' commemorates the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the
concentration camps and the persecution of war criminals at Nuremberg,
Germany.
For over 20 years, Congress has approved the use of the Rotunda for
this ceremony each spring and every year that I attend I am struck by
the two competing feelings that I have: One, the shocking realization
that man's inhumanity to man sometimes seems to know no bounds; that a
mere 60 years ago, 6 million Jews were exterminated throughout the
world, their only transgression being the fact that they were Jewish.

{time} 1430

But I am also struck by the incredible realization that 60 years
after the most heinous episode in our civilized world's history here we
still are. We are not only survivors, but we have managed to thrive.
Every year those who have survived and thrived, their children and
grandchildren and now their great grandchildren, gather under the dome
of the United States Capitol, the very seat of power of the most
important and strongest nation in the world.

[[Page H804]]

I am second-generation American. My grandparents literally walked
across Europe to come to this country. My mother's side comes from
Salonika, Greece. Prior to World War II, prior to the Nazis, there were
approximately 80,000 Jews in Salonika. When the Nazis finished with
those Jews, there were only 1,000 left. And I am not presumptuous
enough to presume to think that my family would have been among those
that were chosen to live.
My father's side from the Russia-Poland border after hundreds and
hundreds of years of a thriving culture and civilization were
obliterated, exterminated in this Holocaust. Nobody remained. Not the
towns. Not the people. Not the culture. But here we are 60 years after
the Holocaust. Here I am, a Jewish American, elected to serve her
community and her country in the United States Congress, standing on
the floor of the United States House of Representatives, alive and
free, supporting the resolution honoring those that were lost.
This past January I had the privilege of attending the ceremony
commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz. I attended it as part of a
congressional delegation. As I walked in the freezing cold and the snow
the mile from Auschwitz to Birkenau where the ceremony was taking
place, we were surrounded by survivors that were in Auschwitz as
children. Now in their late 70s and 80s, each one of them was anxious
to talk and tell us when they had been there, what it was like, who
they had lost, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, entire families
obliterated. But there we were. And as we sat there for the few hours
for that extraordinary ceremony commemorating that liberation of
Auschwitz and the concentration camps, I was struck by the fact that it
was truly a miracle that anybody had survived, because there I was
sitting with four pairs of socks, boots, a hat, two pairs of gloves,
four sweaters, a warm jacket and sitting under a blanket and freezing
wondering how these people, how these extraordinary people managed to
survive one day. Forget the gas chambers, forget the gruesome medical
experiments, forget the random acts of man's inhumanity to man, the
incredibility cruelty. Surviving day to day with no clothes, with no
blankets, with no food is truly a testament to those people who managed
to survive.
The ceremony we are authorizing today honors Holocaust survivors and
those lost loved ones. It will also serve as a reminder that we must
continue as a civilized people to battle hate and prejudice and
violence and demand justice and humanity to all. It does not matter
culture, ethnicity, religion, color of our skin. We all deserve to be
treated as human beings with dignity. We must not allow this tragedy to
ever be repeated again.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of this
concurrent resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to note that I do not have any further speakers
at this time on this bill, but I would note that due to the weather
conditions a lot of people are not here; otherwise, we have many, many
Members who support this and would be speaking on this. Even though
they could not get here in time, many Members' thoughts in support of
this resolution are with us now on the floor.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my
support of H. Con. Res. 63, 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 6 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.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
63.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.

____________________