[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 62 (Friday, April 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE HOLOCAUST

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 27, 2012

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today, there was a Yom HaShoah service held 
in the United States Capitol as they are being held in State Capitals 
throughout the Nation, to remember the victims of the Holocaust--the 
loss of six million lives. It is imperative that we remember the loss 
of those six million people and, also, the people who survived and 
those who helped them survive.
  In 1984, as a young State Senator, I sponsored legislation to create 
the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, one of the first such state 
Commissions. I'm very proud of the work of the Tennessee Holocaust 
Commission, much of which is educating Tennessee teachers so they can 
teach children about the Holocaust.
  The Commission has been very successful and has benefitted from great 
leadership. Then Commission Chair Reverend Beverly Asbury, also 
Chaplain at Vanderbilt University, worked tirelessly to get the 
Commission off the ground and current Chairwoman Felicia Anchor, born 
in the Bergen-Belsen camp, uses her passion and personal experience to 
continue to do great things.
  I wear a button to honor Raoul Wallenberg, a great diplomat who 
helped save 100,000 Jews. This morning HRH Princess Madeleine and 
Swedish Parliamentary Leaders met with the Congressional Swedish Caucus 
and talked about the efforts of Swedish Diplomats to engage the United 
States to help save lives.
  U.S. Treasury Secretary Morgenthau and two people in his 
administration, Mr. Pehle and Mr. DuBois, implored our President to 
help rescue Jews, and the United States certainly helped. 
Unfortunately, many lives were lost because we didn't get involved soon 
enough. We should never meet evil with silence.
  Yom HaShoah is about remembering. As we remember the lives lost, we 
should also remember those who survived and, also, the military that 
liberated the camps and the hundreds of thousands of righteous gentiles 
who risked their own lives to save Jews.
  I urge all Americans visiting Washington to visit the U.S. Holocaust 
Museum and I urge all Tennesseans and those visiting Nashville to go to 
the Memorial on the State Capitol Grounds, situated alongside six cedar 
trees representing six million people, to remember and to understand 
why we must always remember.

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