[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3524-S3525]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 445, which was submitted 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 445) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate in commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, earlier today, this body voiced its support 
for a resolution commemorating the Holocaust--the Shoah--Nazi Germany's 
systematic effort to exterminate the Jewish people.
  For anybody who questions the existence of evil, the Nazi regime's 
deliberate murder of 6 million Jewish men, women, and children should 
settle all doubts.
  Today, people all over the world will mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust 
Remembrance Day. At 10 o'clock local time today in Israel, a loud siren 
sounded throughout the country. Motorists pulled their cars aside and 
office workers stepped away from their computers. Everyone in the 
nation paused for a moment of silence in commemoration of the 
Holocaust.
  Beginning with the Kristallnach Pogram on November 8 and 9, 1938, the 
Nazi government embarked on a systematic, deliberate campaign of cold-
blooded murder. Families were stripped of their possessions and killing 
squads roamed the countryside. Millions upon millions of Jewish people 
were brought to concentration camps where the Nazi regime killed most 
immediately and sent some to work as slave laborers.
  The Jewish people did not meekly submit to the Nazi onslaught. They 
fought back: 63 years ago this month, a group of 750 lightly armed 
Jewish partisans began the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Knowing that the 
Nazis planned to deport and murder them, the Jewish residents remaining 
in Warsaw staged occupied Europe's first ever organized urban rebellion 
against Nazi tyranny. They fought heroically and delayed the 
deportation for over a month.
  During the Holocaust's 7 years, the Nazis did incalculable damage to 
ancient Jewish communities within Europe. In many parts of central 
Europe, few Jews remain today. But Hitler's evil plan failed utterly. 
He did not destroy the Jewish people. Millions survived. Many came to 
the United States. And many settled in what is now the prosperous, 
thriving, and democratic State of Israel.
  Over the past year, 5 year olds who survived the Nazi death camps 
became eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Eighteen-year-old 
GIs who took part in the camps' liberation will turn 80 next year. 
Personal memor1es of the Holocaust are quickly disappearing.
  We have an obligation to keep these memories alive even after these 
people pass on.
  Through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Tennessee's own 
Holocaust Memorial in Nashville, and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust 
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority we have established places 
dedicated to making sure that we remember the Holocaust.
  It is the least we can do. We owe this debt of memory to ourselves, 
to our children, to the Nation, and to the world.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 445) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 445

       Whereas the Holocaust involved the systematic persecution 
     and genocide of millions of innocent Jewish men, women, and 
     children, along with millions of others, by the Nazis under 
     the leadership of Adolf Hitler;

[[Page S3525]]

       Whereas an estimated 6,000,000 Jews and many others were 
     killed in the Holocaust;
       Whereas millions of survivors of the Holocaust endured 
     enormous suffering through violence, torture, slave labor, 
     and involuntary medical experimentation;
       Whereas in the 61 years since the end of the Holocaust, 
     this tragic event has helped to teach the people of the world 
     awareness of the danger of hatred, anti-Semitism, bigotry, 
     and racism, and the importance of compassion and 
     understanding diversity;
       Whereas Holocaust Remembrance Day is held every year in 
     remembrance of the Holocaust and its millions of victims: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on 
     April 25, 2006;
       (2) remembers the 6,000,000 Jews and many others who were 
     killed by the Nazis, and honors the millions of survivors of 
     the Holocaust; and
       (3) encourages all Americans to commemorate the occasion 
     through reflection, acts of compassion, and education about 
     the horrific consequences of anti-Semitism, bigotry, racism 
     and hatred.

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