[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 61 (Thursday, April 26, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE HOLOCAUST

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 19, 2012

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on Yom Ha'Shoah to honor the 
memory of the victims of the Holocaust. In the 1940's, the Nazi regime 
murdered six million innocent human beings in an attempt to wipe out 
the entire Jewish community.
  It is of the utmost importance that we continue to reflect upon this 
tragedy and teach our children about this horrific event, so that we 
fully understand the importance of embracing our common humanity, so 
that we recognize the universality of human dignity, and so that we 
prevent genocide from ever occurring again.
  In the first few years of the Nazi regime, Jews were harassed and 
humiliated in every imaginable way to tear away at their basic human 
dignity.
  This denial of their human dignity and humanity culminated in the 
death camps, where mass murder was accomplished with a factory-like 
efficiency that shocks the soul.
  Facing a totalitarian state intent on genocide and war, several 
Jewish underground organizations found the strength to create 
resistance movements. In the Warsaw Ghetto, these groups launched an 
uprising that lasted over a month against the entrenched Nazi war 
machine. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising inspired other uprisings across 
Europe, including in the Bialystok and Minsk ghettos and in the 
Treblinka and Sobibor death camps.
  The indomitable resilience of the human spirit was also demonstrated 
in the aftermath of the Holocaust when Jews recreated their lives, 
rebuilt their families and their culture. This rebirth is epitomized by 
the creation of the first independent Jewish state in our modern era--
the state of Israel.
  In Israel, Yom Ha'Shoah is marked by the sound of a siren, which 
calls for two minutes of silence. Two minutes when an entire country 
stands in silent reflection.
  I ask all of my colleagues to join with me in observing the lives 
that have been lost, in honoring the survivors, and in recommitting 
ourselves to ensuring that such a tragedy is never repeated again.

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