[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING YOM HASHOAH, HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

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                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 27, 2006

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with my 
colleagues and with my constituents in solemn recognition of Yom 
Hashoah, a special day on which we mourn the millions of Jews who 
perished at the hands of Nazi Germany and remember the horrific tragedy 
of the Holocaust.
  This day commemorates the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, in April of 
1943, and the selfless bravery of hundreds of everyday men and women 
who fought courageously against a troop of thousands of Nazi soldiers. 
This day fomented the resistance movement in ghettos throughout Europe, 
and it is the inspiration for the National Commemoration of the Days of 
Remembrance each year in the United States.
  This day has special significance for Jews, the main target of Nazi 
atrocities. I have many constituents who are Holocaust survivors, and 
many more who lost friends, relatives and loved ones. We mourn their 
loss, and honor their memory and the memory of the 6 million Jews whose 
lives were so cruelly, wantonly and prematurely ended. We will never 
forget them, and what happened to them.
  At the same time, we must recognize that the same forces that brought 
about the Holocaust continue to exist in the world today. We have seen 
it in Kosovo and Rwanda, we continue to see it in Darfur. Let us 
therefore honor the innocent victims by recommitting ourselves to 
fighting ignorance, bigotry, hatred and, perhaps most important, 
``inaction by people of good will.''

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