[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H1016-H1017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DENOUNCING HOLOCAUST DENIERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) for 5 minutes.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to denounce this sad
reality: the depraved beliefs of Holocaust deniers have somehow crawled
into our national conversation. What is worse is that it is occurring
at a time when our government has decided to turn its back on refugees
fleeing violence and oppression.
What is deeply concerning is that all of this is emanating from the
White House, clearly directed by President Trump's top political
strategist, Stephen Bannon. Mr. Bannon was the force behind Breitbart
News, an alt-right outlet that traffics anti-Semitism, Islamophobia,
and White nationalism.
When President Trump picked Mr. Bannon as a chief strategist,
countless groups condemned it. The Anti-Defamation League's Jonathan
Greenblatt warned us that Bannon's views were ``hostile to core
American values.'' That concern was made crystal clear by the statement
President Trump issued on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
about 10 days ago.
The statement inexplicably left out the defining aspect of the
Holocaust--the systemic murder of 6 million Jewish people. It is
crucial to understand why this global day of remembrance even takes
place. The United Nations created this calendar event in 2005, partly
because fewer Holocaust survivors with personal accounts of the horror
they experienced were still alive.
Another reason was to combat the smoldering bigotry that still
attempts to minimize the death of millions of murdered European Jews.
The failure to mention this basic fact on such a day--as all past
administrations have--is unbelievable and unacceptable.
What is bone-chilling in its insensitivity and callous indifference
is that, when questioned about the omission, President Trump's White
House spokeswoman acknowledged it was intentional. His spokeswoman said
in defense of leaving out any reference to Jews or anti-Semitism in the
statement: ``Despite what the media reports, we are an incredibly
inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered.''
Compounding this refusal to acknowledge that Jews were the main
target of the Holocaust, the White House spokesman called critics of
the statement ``pathetic'' and ``nit-picking.'' He tried to gloss over
it by suggesting a Jew helped prepare the statement.
The fact is, undeniably, that the Holocaust was about the Jews.
Hitler established what he called the final solution, a state-sponsored
policy to exterminate the Jews and rid them from the planet.
Omitting any reference to Jews as the primary driver of Hitler's and
the Nazi's intentions, is nothing short of sanctioning Holocaust denial
by blurring the hatred that was its driving force. Yes, it is vital to
recognize that others were systematically targeted for extermination,
but the number of Jews murdered and the great lengths taken to
identify, capture, and annihilate
[[Page H1017]]
them are unprecedented in human history.
This is why we mourn those who lost their lives in one of history's
darkest moments. This is why we recommit ourselves to upholding the
principle of ``never again.'' This is why we have an International
Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A cruel irony is that on this very same day, Trump released his
punishing Muslim ban that Bannon reportedly crafted to stop refugees
from coming into our country. The executive order bans travel to the
United States from seven predominantly Islam countries, though we are
told that this is not a Muslim ban.
The bumbling rollout of the order and unmitigated chaos it caused,
has drawn scorn from across the political spectrum, and from allies
across the world. Fortunately, our legal system has acted as a check on
this ban so far. But it is the Islamophobia at the root of it, which is
what Mr. Bannon and the alt-right crowd have long promoted. The Jewish
community was quick to see the disturbing historic similarities.
In May of 1939, the German liner St. Louis sailed to Cuba with 937
passengers, most of them Jews fleeing the Third Reich. The bulk of the
Jewish passengers had applied for U.S. visas and planned to stay in
Cuba, but anti-Semitic protests prevented them from even disembarking
there. After intense negotiations to try to have Cuba accept the
refugees failed, the United States turned the ship away, and the
passengers were forced to return to Europe. One-third of them were
ultimately exterminated by the Nazis.
{time} 1015
It was a shameful chapter in our history. Those harsh forces are
still at work around the globe, and it is those very same aspirational
principles that drive so many immigrants to come to this great Nation.
The idea that someone such as Mr. Bannon has actively worked to
oppose these values in the past sickens me. The idea that Mr. Bannon
now sits on the principals committee on the National Security Council
is also deeply troubling. The prospect that his alt-right views could
politicize the decisions that put American troops and lives at risk is
inexplicable and inexcusable.
But make no mistake, this outrage lies at the feet of Donald Trump,
who allowed this oblique denial to go out in his name.
So, Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to say that I will not be silent.
In the face of cruelty and suffering, I will stand with those who
refuse to be bystanders. I will join my voice with those who
courageously ask questions instead of thoughtlessly taking orders.
Mr. Speaker, the controversy over the Holocaust statement was never
just a quibble about words. It is about the memory of 6 million
murdered Jews. It is about making sure that no one, especially in the
United States of America, denies that its primary purpose was, at its
core, about Jews. And if we are to make certain that this never happens
again, we cannot erase them from history or allow history to repeat
itself. Never again.
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