[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 60 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE HOLOCAUST

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                               speech of

                          HON. SHELLEY BERKLEY

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2012

  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust 
Remembrance Day. Each year on the 27th day of the Jewish month of 
Nisan, we remember the victims whose lives were destroyed, and who 
suffered unspeakable brutalities at the hands of their Nazi tormentors. 
We all know the number six million far too well, but we must always 
remember that each of those six million--along with so many others--was 
an individual whose life was snuffed out because of baseless, senseless 
hatred.
  We should also remember that the date for Yom HaShoah was also chosen 
to coincide with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, 
perhaps the most famous example of Jewish resistance to the Nazis. When 
the Germans came to liquidate the last remaining inhabitants of the 
Warsaw Ghetto in order to murder them at the Treblinka extermination 
camp, these brave, untrained, overmatched and starving souls fought 
back. Though they were ultimately crushed, they held out against the 
Nazis for nearly a month, forcing the German army to divert thousands 
of troops, as well as air force, artillery, armed vehicles, 
minethrowers, and machine guns in order to put down the rebellion.
  While the Holocaust is the greatest of Jewish tragedies, the Warsaw 
Ghetto Uprising stands as a moment of pride for the Jewish people, and 
a foreshadowing of the new Jewish spirit that would rise with the State 
of Israel just a few years later. Never again would Jews give up 
without a fight. With a state and an army, the Jewish people would 
finally have a refuge to run to in their time of need.
  While we commemorate the Holocaust today, I call on my colleagues to 
join me in re-affirming our connection to the State of Israel, and our 
responsibility to help Israel through its most difficult times. The 
Jewish State ensures the survival of the Jewish people in a dangerous 
and often anti-Semitic world, which is one of the many reasons we in 
the United States have stood by Israel for so many years and will 
continue to stand by Israel for as long as they need our help.
  The memory of the six million killed by the Nazis demands no less. We 
in Congress stand with the entire Jewish people in saying Never Again.

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