[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E901-E902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 21, 2009

  Mr. WAXMAN. Madam Speaker, today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom 
Hashoah, which is marked by ceremonies this week in the United States, 
Israel and around the world. It is a solemn day commemorating the 
Hebrew anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and 
each year it is an opportunity to revisit the lessons of the Holocaust 
and the innocent lives and vibrant communities that were destroyed by 
the Nazis.
  Decades have passed since the Nazis and their willing counterparts 
committed mass genocide of European Jewry. Tragically, despite a clear 
historical record, Holocaust denial has become a favored platform for 
anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. The threat grows greater as the 
eyewitnesses who survived the Holocaust pass on.
  In a new chapter of struggle, these eyewitnesses increasingly face a 
different kind of daily challenge for survival. Of the approximately 
100,000 Holocaust survivors living in the United States, at least 25 
percent live below the federal poverty level. Tragically, the current 
economic crisis is pushing this already vulnerable population to even 
further financial uncertainty. In Los Angeles, home to approximately 
15,000 survivors, the Holocaust Survivor Program at Jewish Family 
Services has reported a sharp increase in requests for emergency 
financial assistance. Those who receive public benefits have already 
seen a cut in their Social Security payments, and are expecting 
additional cuts to their medical benefits, and the In-Home Supportive 
Services program that will go into effect this summer.
  Around the country, Holocaust survivors are facing the loss of their 
homes of many years to foreclosure, at least in part because they have 
drawn on the equity in their homes to help meet daily expenses. Such 
displacement is distressing for any senior citizen, but the impact on 
survivors is often exacerbated by physical and mental health ailments 
from their wartime experience. It is clear that indigent survivors in 
Los Angeles, the United States and around the world are in dire need.
  The United States and the international community have the 
opportunity to deliver justice and aid for these survivors at the 
upcoming ``Holocaust Era Assets Conference,'' which will be hosted in 
June by the Government of the Czech Republic in Prague. The objective 
of the conference is to assess the progress made since a similar 
conference was convened in Washington in 1998.

[[Page E902]]

  Key working groups organized for the Prague Conference will focus on 
property restitution in countries like Poland that still have no 
applicable laws, looted art and Judaica, and Jewish cultural property. 
There will also be a special session on ``Caring for Victims of Nazism 
and Their Legacy,'' which will examine the pressing humanitarian and 
social needs survivors face.
  Those who survived the Holocaust and overcame horrific trauma to 
rebuild their shattered lives deserve to live their final years with 
dignity. We cannot talk about remembrance and restitution without 
addressing survivor destitution. I am hopeful that the Prague forum 
will answer this urgent call to action.

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