[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 121 (Monday, September 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10423-S10424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SIMON WIESENTHAL

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, there are many kinds of heroes in our 
world.
  Some create magnificent works of art which raise our spirits to 
nobler visions.
  Some make tremendous scientific discoveries which revolutionize our 
understanding and our use of nature for human good.
  Some reach unprecedented achievement by adventuring where humans have 
never been before.
  But today we are honoring the late Simon Wiesenthal, a different kind 
of hero who didn't achieve in the realm of beauty, science or 
adventure. His life achievement instead was to hold up to humanity the 
truth about one of its ugliest chapters. He faced what is worst in 
humankind, and triumphed over it.
  In almost every culture the concept of justice begins with finding 
the truth. Simon Wiesenthal was a principled and indefatigable pursuer 
of the truth of the Nazi holocaust. He was not content to let the stain 
of the Nazi murder of Jews and others to be washed away with the 
passage of time. He sought to document their acts so that they could be 
recorded forever.
  But his life's work went beyond finding the truth. He traveled the 
globe to make sure surviving members of the Third Reich were held 
accountable for their monstrous crimes.
  He summed up his life with the words ``Never forget. Never again.'' 
He made us recognize that the simple act of forgetting opened the door 
for the unthinkable to recur.
  World history tells us that every terrible evil starts small and 
grows to the point where it cannot be controlled except by 
extraordinary means and cost.
  Simon Wiesenthal's life teaches us to deal with anti-Semitism 
wherever it rears its head so that we don't allow it to grow into 
something we can no longer stop.
  He urged us not only to face the truth, but to act upon it.
  Centuries ago a Spanish Rabbi named Maimomedes said this:

       Each of us should view ourselves as if the world were held 
     in balance and a single act of goodness may tip the scales.

  Simon Wiesenthal did countless acts of goodness and tipped the scales 
of

[[Page S10424]]

world history and we honor him for that. But he also places a burden on 
all of us, for posterity's sake, to do our part, to raise our voices 
and to take action whenever we see hatred rear its head.
  We honor him best by devoting ourselves to the work of justice and 
action he accomplished.

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