[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 15, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H1235-H1238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Higgins of Louisiana). Under the
Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 30 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I want to welcome my colleague, Congressman
Joe Crowley, the chair of the Democratic Caucus who is joining us this
evening as well. I know how very busy he is, and I appreciate it.
As author of the legislation that created our Nation's World War II
Memorial here in Washington, I felt obligated and actually compelled to
come to this well tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the Trump administration's
hollow January 27 statement commemorating International Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
Statement by President Trump on International Holocaust Remembrance
Day--January 27, 2017
``It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember
and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It
is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror
inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.
``Yet, we know that in the darkest hours of humanity, light
shines the brightest. As we remember those who died, we are
deeply grateful to those who risked their lives to save the
innocent.
``In the name of the perished, I pledge to do everything in
my power throughout my Presidency, and my life, to ensure
that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of
good. Together, we will make love and tolerance prevalent
throughout the world.''
Ms. KAPTUR. Astoundingly, the White House statement made no reference
to the 6 million Jews that perished in the Holocaust. There was no
mention of anti-Semitism nor a reference to Israel, as has been
customary in prior statements issued by our past Presidents.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a statement by President George
Bush in 2008.
Statement by President George W. Bush on the International Day of
Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust--January 27,
2008
On the third International Day of Commemoration, we
remember and mourn the victims of the Holocaust.
I was deeply moved by my recent visit to Yad Vashem,
Israel's Holocaust museum. Sixty-three years after the
liberation of Auschwitz, we must continue to educate
ourselves about the lessons of the Holocaust and honor those
whose lives were taken as a result of a totalitarian ideology
that embraced a national policy of violent hatred, bigotry,
and extermination. It is also our responsibility to honor the
survivors and those courageous souls who refused to be
bystanders and instead risked their own lives to try to save
the Nazis' intended victims.
Remembering the victims, heroes, and lessons of the
Holocaust remains important today. We must continue to
condemn the resurgence of anti-Semitism, that same virulent
intolerance that led to the Holocaust, and we must combat
bigotry and hatred in all forms in America and abroad. Today
provides a sobering reminder that evil exists and a call that
when we find evil, we must resist it.
May God bless the memory of the victims of the Holocaust,
and may we never forget.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I will also include in the Record a
statement by President Barack Obama from 2015 showing what the White
House said about Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Statement by President Obama on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
and the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau--2015
On the tenth International Holocaust Remembrance Day and
the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau,
the American people pay tribute to the six million Jews and
millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime. We also honor
those who survived the Shoah, while recognizing the scars and
burdens that many have carried ever since.
Honoring the victims and survivors begins with our renewed
recognition of the value and dignity of each person. It
demands from us the courage to protect the persecuted and
speak out against bigotry and hatred. The recent terrorist
attacks in Paris serve as a painful reminder of our
obligation to condemn and combat rising anti-Semitism in all
its forms, including the denial or trivialization of the
Holocaust.
This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the
progress we have made confronting this terrible chapter in
human history and on our continuing efforts to end genocide.
I have sent a Presidential delegation to join Polish
President Komorowski, the Polish people, official delegations
from scores of nations, and many survivors, at today's
official commemoration in Poland.
As a founding member of the International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance, the United States joins the Alliance's
thirty other member nations and partners in reiterating its
solemn responsibility to uphold the commitments of the 2000
Stockholm Declaration. We commemorate all of the victims of
the Holocaust, pledging never to forget, and recalling the
cautionary words of the author and survivor of Auschwitz
Primo Levi, ``It happened, therefore it can happen again. . .
. It can happen anywhere.'' Today we come together and
commit, to the millions of murdered souls and all survivors,
that it must never happen again.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: between 1933 and 1945, 14
million unarmed men, women, and children were murdered in Eastern
Europe. These bloodlands were where most of Europe's Jews lived and
where Hitler's and Stalin's imperial plans overlapped. Of the 14
million human beings who were killed, at least 6 million were Jewish
souls. Their carnage was the largest in human history.
Thus, the brevity of the Trump administration's statement was
surprisingly and unusually short and general--only about 100 words.
When the White House was asked about these glaring omissions, multiple
officials in the new administration at the White House merely confirmed
``the statement was no mistake.''
The Trump White House statement chose not to explicitly acknowledge
the deaths of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. This is atypical of
any former President of our country. Moreover, the Trump statement
implies that the recognition of the death of Jews during the Holocaust
would come at the exclusion of other groups. The tone of those remarks
takes the reader in the direction of denying the suffering of the
Jewish people.
For the President not to mention Jews is a terrible omen.
So let us go through some history. The term ``holocaust,'' arising
from World War II, has come to mean annihilation of Jewish persons.
From 1933 to 1945, those Jewish souls who perished in Europe totaled at
least 6 million human beings. Between 2.7 million and 3 million Jews
were murdered in Nazi-run death camps. In the USSR, 1,340,000 Jewish
deaths were ordered by Joseph Stalin. At least 1.5 million of the
victims forcibly killed by Hitler and Stalin were children.
Cumulatively, this carnage represented about two-thirds of the 9
million Jews who had resided in Central Europe. By way of explanation,
for the 8 million Christians and others who were also murdered, the
term generally used to describe their carnage is martyrdom. As an
example, in Poland, 3 million Catholic Christian Poles were martyred by
Nazi and Soviet killing machines.
The Holocaust also included Stalin's mass executions and forced
starvation
[[Page H1236]]
and relocation of Soviet prisoners of war to fight in horrendous places
like the Battle of Monte Cassino after being marched through the Middle
East. Many of them were buried in Tehran.
Stalin also perpetrated a massive post-war ethnic and religious
cleansing of Jews and non-Jews. As Hitler and Stalin fought for control
of the European continent, over 14 million innocent people--these
aren't soldiers I am talking about. This was in addition to the 14
million--women, children, and men who were civilians died in their
vastly evil plunder. Millions of Eastern Europeans were trapped between
the two most murderous regimes in not only European history, but human
history: Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union.
As an aside, I found it chilling that President Trump's top adviser,
Steve Bannon, in an address to the Vatican in 2014, referenced in a
most troubling line of thought the name of Julius Evola and his
murderous movement.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record excerpts of an article entitled
``This is How Steve Bannon Sees the Entire World,'' which is also
available at www.buzzfeed.com.
[From BuzzFeed News Reporter]
This Is How Steve Bannon Sees the Entire World
(By J. Lester Feder)
Donald Trump's newly named chief strategist and senior
counselor Steve Bannon laid out his globalist nationalist
vision in unusually in-depth remarks delivered by Skype to a
conference held inside the Vatican in the summer of 2014.
Bannon: I think it's a little bit more complicated. When
Vladimir Putin, when you really look at some of the
underpinnings of some of his beliefs today, a lot of those
come from what I call Eurasianism; he's got an advisor who
harkens back to Julius Evola and different writers of the
early 20th century who are really the supporters of what's
called the traditionalist movement, which really eventually
metastazied into Italian fascism. A lot of people that are
traditionalists are attracted to that.
One of the reasons is that they believe that at least Putin
is standing up for traditional institutions, and he's trying
to do it in a form of nationalism--and I think that people,
particularly in certain countries, want to see the
sovereignty for their country, they want to see nationalism
for their country. They don't believe in this kind of pan-
European Union or they don't believe in the centralized
government in the United States. They'd rather see more of a
states-based entity that the founders originally set up where
freedoms were controlled at the local level.
I'm not justifying Vladimir Putin and the kleptocracy that
he represents, because he eventually is the state capitalist
of kleptocracy. However, we the Judeo-Christian West really
have to look at what he's talking about as far as
traditionalism goes--particularly the sense of where it
supports the underpinnings of nationalism--and I happen to
think that the individual sovereignty of a country is a good
thing and a strong thing. I think strong countries and strong
nationalist movements in countries make strong neighbors, and
that is really the building block that built Western Europe
and the United States, and I think it's what can see us
forward.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, Julius Evola has been described as one of
the most influential Fascist racists in Italian history, admired by the
Nazi SS, its commander, Heinrich Himmler, and Benito Mussolini. Nazi SS
Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler was most certainly responsible for the
Holocaust.
Hitler's madness obsessed over creating an Aryan nation. Joseph
Stalin's depraved dream of conquest knew no bounds. Stalin even
conscripted Jews to lead hunts to exterminate other ethnic groups, and
then killed the Jews when the mission was completed. The level of
Stalin's depravity is difficult for sane people to understand.
Violent anti-Semitism and hatred did not end with the defeat of Nazi
Germany and the ultimate collapse of the Communist Soviet Union. We can
observe a resurgence in certain places in Europe and, sadly, even in
isolated incidents here in the United States.
{time} 1930
History tells us that the rising anti-Semitic violence is not just a
threat to civil society today, but the future of free people
everywhere. The recent anti-Semitic terrorist incidents in Paris at the
Bataclan, Jewish-owned enterprises, or Nazi symbols appearing in
hateful situations here in our own beloved country demand that decent
people find peaceful means to stare down hate.
Timothy Snyder's masterful book ``Bloodlands'' documents the 6
million souls of the Holocaust and 8 million souls of martyrdom and
murder. The Nazis established killing centers for efficient mass
execution. These killing centers, also referred to as ``extermination
camps'' or ``death camps,'' were almost exclusively ``death
factories.'' German Schutzstaffel and police murdered nearly 2.7
million Jews in these killing centers either by asphyxiation with
poison gas or by shooting.
For the non-Jewish populations of Europe, the 8 million non-Jewish
victims of Nazi and communist campaigns of mass murder include Romas,
Soviet prisoners of war, Aktion T4 patients, Ukrainian Holodomor famine
victims, Serbs, the disabled, the LGBTQ communities, and others known
only to God.
There were also unfathomable crimes against entire nations, as Poland
and Belarus were both slated for complete extinction. Poland lost an
astounding 20 percent of its entire population, with 6 million killed
in the war, and Belarus, though smaller in population, lost 25 percent
of its population.
In Poland, leaders were annihilated. Many members of the Catholic
clergy were either threatened with deportation, kept in custody, or
sent to camps. The Catholic Church was particularly suppressed, for
nearly a fifth of all priests--over 3,000--were killed between 1939 and
1945, most in concentration camps.
From 1932 to 1933, Joseph Stalin's forced famine engulfed much of
present-day Ukraine and its eastern flank. The heaviest losses were in
Ukraine--which is struggling for its freedom today--which had been the
most productive agricultural area of the Soviet Union. Stalin was
determined to crush all evidence of Ukrainian pride. As with Poland's
leadership, the famine was accompanied by a devastating purge of all of
Ukraine's intelligentsia.
Millions of peasants were condemned to death by starvation. Troops
and secret police units waged a merciless war against peasants who
refused to give up their grain. Any man, woman, or child caught taking
even a handful of grain from a collective farm could be, and often
were, executed or deported to work camps. Stalin's system of internal
passports and brutal secret police forced collectivization of the land
to Communist-run production.
After a long search through history and recordkeeping, I can
personally give testimony and even learned that the Catholic Church
located in today's Ukraine, in which our maternal grandparents were
married, held a dark secret. Joseph Stalin's secret police, the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the NKVD, killed 168 people
in its basement as Stalin's Black Raven trucks drove the innocents to
their death.
Historians continue to seek truth even until today about what
happened. Their painstaking research includes information from the
Soviet archives. Though some people try to erase history or ignore it,
others work diligently to record it and learn from it.
I recall how fondly our grandmother spoke of Jewish storekeepers in
the region from which she emigrated, welcoming her before and after
church on Sunday and telling her to change into her church shoes there
before attending mass and after her 5-mile hike from her village and
the 5-mile hike back. The Jewish storekeeper would always give her a
piece of candy.
There are other Members here tonight that wish to speak. I am so
grateful for their presence here tonight because we are the bearers of
liberty's torch.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York, (Mr. Crowley),
the great leader of the Democratic Caucus, and I thank him for taking
time from his busy schedule to be here with us.
Mr. CROWLEY. I thank my friend, the gentlewoman from Ohio, for being
here this evening to have this Special Order to speak on an issue of
such magnitude, of importance to we the people of the United States,
important to the world, that we never forget what took place: the
horror, the utter destruction of humankind during the Holocaust, but,
in particular, the focus of that destruction upon the Jewish race.
It is important because we are seeing a rise, quite frankly, of anti-
Semitism not only around the world, but right here in the United
States. It takes different forms in different places, but, in
[[Page H1237]]
the end, has the same result of targeting and hurting one of the
historically most vulnerable groups in our world: the Jewish people.
One of the things that has been the most concerning to me is the
minimizing of the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Frankly, it is really outright disturbing--I don't know if that does it
justice--that the White House of the United States of America, the home
of our President, our present administration, representing the same
country that defeated Nazi Germany, the same country that bore the
Greatest Generation, the same country that led the fight against anti-
Semitism worldwide, while recognizing from time to time it had to douse
it here in the United States, our country, this same White House that I
referred to deliberately refused to mention that the Holocaust was
designed to eliminate the Jewish people from the face of the Earth. Not
a single mention of the Final Solution. The Final Solution was to
obliterate, eliminate the Jewish people off the face of the Earth.
Yes, many people died in the Holocaust, as the gentlewoman made
reference to so eloquently--disturbingly, but eloquently. Of the tens
of millions of people who died, we know of them historically, but no
race or religion was designated for elimination like the Jewish people
were. The Final Solution was about ridding the Jewish people from the
face of the Earth. It is that simple. It is imperative that this moment
does not pass without some clarity.
What is clear is that the White House purposely removed the
reference. They are proud of it. They doubled down. They tripled down.
They removed the reference to the Jewish people in its statement on
International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Why does this matter, you may ask? Well, first and foremost, it feeds
the extremists. We know they exist. Let's face it, extremists have
welcomed this White House statement. They love it, they glorify it, not
just theoretically, but literally. Literally, White supremacists have
welcomed the White House decision to leave any mention of the Jewish
people out of the Holocaust remembrance.
Secondly, it matters because a lot of people in the world today
either don't know that the Holocaust happened or don't believe that the
Holocaust happened--not just theoretically, but literally don't believe
that the Holocaust took place.
Literally, a 2014 global survey of anti-Semitic attitudes found that
35 percent of people around the world have never heard about the
Holocaust. Maybe you can understand that. But an additional 32 percent,
more importantly, believe it is a myth or greatly exaggerated.
Thirdly, it matters because there are many Holocaust survivors--I
know them and their descendents--in the United States and throughout
the world.
The actions behind the statement were just downright cruel and
inhumane to them, not just theoretically, but literally cruel and
inhumane.
Literally, groups that are dedicated to this issue are deeply, deeply
disturbed. The Anne Frank Center and others have raised their voices.
This is not just coming from Democrats. I don't want to mislead here
at all. There are a range of Republican leaders--and there are four of
them--and Republican groups that have expressed their anger at the
White House position on the Holocaust, but one entity. We will come
back to this House in a moment.
The White House hasn't seemed to have heard their outcry, but the
gentlewoman from Ohio and I, the Democratic Caucus, we have heard.
What has taken place is wrong; simply wrong. You would think that the
President would correct the situation. In fact, today, he had the
opportunity to condemn anti-Semitism at his press conference with Prime
Minister Netanyahu, and he didn't do it. In fact, when he was asked on
this very subject of the failure to mention the Jewish people of the
Holocaust, he used the opportunity not to clarify his position, but to
make reference to how great his election victory was.
In watching that press conference, as disturbed as I was about the
answer from our President, I was more than a bit disappointed, quite
frankly, by Prime Minister Netanyahu's failure to challenge the
President on that. I wish Prime Minister Netanyahu would have asked
President Trump to change his statement; not to whitewash what was
done, but to change his statement on the Holocaust. I still hope that
the Prime Minister does that in the time that he is here.
So this Special Order tonight will help us set the record straight,
not just on behalf of the millions of Jewish Americans across this
country, but to send a clear message to all those who engage in this
type of behavior.
I ask this question: Where are our Republican colleagues on this
issue?
Do you hear that? Silence.
We have given them opportunity after opportunity to speak out against
what the White House has done, but our Republican colleagues refuse to
criticize the White House for the omission of the Jewish people in the
Holocaust resolution.
Could you imagine for a moment what the outcry would have been had
President Obama accidentally omitted this, putting aside purposely
omitting it, but the outcry if he had accidentally omitted the
mentioning of the Jewish people in his annual statement? He never did
that, though, nor did President Bush, as the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms.
Kaptur) has pointed out. This was no mistake. It was a willful
omission. Yet still, nothing from our Republican colleagues.
The gentlewoman from Ohio knows that I have offered a resolution. We
will continue to ask our Republican colleagues to join us on that
resolution asking the White House to set the record straight and to
include the mentioning of the Final Solution and the attempt by the
Nazi regime to eliminate the Jewish people from the face of the Earth.
{time} 1945
We will use every legislative mechanism possible to do that, whether
it is a motion to discharge, whatever that will be. I am putting my
Republican colleagues on notice, because they must raise their voices.
They must raise their voices to what has taken place in this White
House. Whether it is Steve Bannon and those who work within the cellar,
the deep cellar of the White House who came up with this resolution to
purposely omit the mentioning of the Jewish people, our Republican
colleagues will either have to answer for the White House and defend it
or condemn it. You can't have it both ways.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio once again for bringing us
together. It needed to be done. We will continue to raise this question
until the White House comes to its senses and sets the record straight
and does no longer continue to enable Holocaust deniers. I thank the
gentlewoman from Ohio for holding this Special Order this evening.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful for Mr. Crowley's presence
and his eloquent remarks this evening, representing one of the major
cities in our country where Jewish leaders from all walks of life have
helped elevate America. I know how proud they are of him and what he is
attempting to do. I hope every one of our colleagues, all 435, sign on
to his resolution. It is most worthy. I thank him so very, very much
for joining us this evening.
I want to tell a story in the region that I represent, though this
particular neighborhood was cut out of my district. A Nazi swastika was
painted on a garage door recently of the home of a Muslim family. It
was really repugnant and very cruel, but what happened in our
community? What did the American people do? One neighbor came over with
a bottle of red paint and she made a big heart over the swastika. Then
the conductor of the symphony came and musicians came, and they played
``Ode to Joy'' to the family, and other friends came and the American
people.
I love the American people because deep in their hearts they live the
values of liberty and justice for all. The garage door itself was
replaced by the Toledo Overhead Door Company. They gave the family a
new door for free. I am just so proud of them. I am just so proud of
them.
Our communities don't have to bear this sadness of anti-Semitism and
of degradation by those who really don't
[[Page H1238]]
get what this country is made of. I know the Trump White House
statement on the Holocaust falls far short of the administration's
ability to properly recognize and record history accurately.
The Trump White House has the means to hire appropriate staff to
prepare thoughtful, carefully researched statements, and their 2017
statement is out of touch with history. History teaches us that
wherever anti-Semitism has gone unchecked, the persecution of others
has been present or not far behind. Presenting historical truth and
defeating anti-Semitism must be a cause of great importance not only
for Jews but also for us, for people who value liberty, truth, free
expression of religion, justice for all. I know that is the vast
majority of the American people.
General Leave
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the subject of our Special Order this
evening.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. KAPTUR. I want to thank Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania also
for coming to the floor this evening. If there is any remaining time, I
would just like to read a couple of the sentences of Congressman
Boyle's remarks because they are so incredible.
He talks about Deborah Lipstadt, an American historian and author of
influential books such as ``Denying the Holocaust,'' who wrote an
important article in The Atlantic, entitled, ``The Trump
Administration's Flirtation With Holocaust Denial.''
He talks about ``'hardcore Holocaust denial.' In this type of
rhetoric, anti-Semites argue that the Holocaust simply did not occur;
that there was no systematic plan to destroy the Jewish people based
solely on their religion.
``This type of hate speech has unfortunately been espoused by those
who seek to delegitimize the suffering of the Jewish people since the
Holocaust began.''
But he talks about a more insidious form of denial in rhetoric that
has begun to creep into our national discussion. Lipstadt terms this
``'softcore Holocaust denial.' This form of denial, argues Lipstadt,
uses different tactics but has the same end-goal. . . . It does not
deny the facts, but it minimizes them, arguing that Jews use the
Holocaust to draw attention away from criticism of Israel. . . .
``Softcore denial also includes Holocaust minimization, as when
someone suggests it was not so bad. Softcore denial, then, is
potentially more insidious than our traditional form of denial, by
minimizing the suffering of the Jewish people and suggesting that while
the Holocaust may have occurred, it was not just about the Jews per
se.''
I appreciate those listening this evening and am very grateful to
have this privilege of entering into the Record materials we believe
important not only to our Republic, but to free people everywhere.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, recently, Deborah
Lipstadt, American historian and author of influential books such as
Denying the Holocaust, wrote an important article in The Atlantic. In
this article, entitled ``The Trump Administration's Flirtation with
Holocaust Denial,'' Lipstadt specifies an important distinction in
types of Holocaust denial.
Most people are familiar with what Lipstadt identifies as ``hardcore
Holocaust denial.'' In this type of rhetoric, anti-Semites argue that
the Holocaust simply did not occur; that there was no systematic plan
to destroy the Jewish people based solely on their religion.
This type of hate speech has unfortunately been espoused by those who
seek to delegitimize the suffering of the Jewish people since the
Holocaust began. It is not acceptable and we must do all we can to
teach our children the tragic events of the Holocaust and how to
counter such hateful rhetoric.
Yet, perhaps a more insidious form of denial rhetoric has begun to
creep into our national discussion.
This is what Lipstadt terms ``softcore Holocaust denial.'' This form
of denial, argues Lipstadt, ``uses different tactics but has the same
end-goal . . . It does not deny the facts, but it minimizes them,
arguing that Jews use the Holocaust to draw attention away from
criticism of Israel . . . .
``Softcore denial also includes Holocaust minimization, as when
someone suggests it was not so bad.'' Softcore denial, then, is
potentially more insidious than our traditional form of denial, by
minimizing the suffering of the Jewish people and suggesting that while
the Holocaust may have occurred, it was not about the Jews per se.
By minimizing the suffering of the target of the Holocaust and the
six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis, we are denying
the truth and setting ourselves up to forget the worst genocidal
massacre in human history.
What is more disgusting and unacceptable, though, is that the
President of the United States is now espousing these dangerous and
hateful ideas.
By refusing time and again to acknowledge that Jews were the targets
and victims of the Holocaust, our President is denying the truth of the
Holocaust and is aiding and abetting the Holocaust deniers and White
Nationalists in their goals of once again persecuting individuals based
on their ethnicity, religion, race, etc.
We must do better. I call on the President to recall his statement
and make clear that the Holocaust was a systematic persecution of the
Jewish people.
Anything less than this outright admission is Holocaust denial.
____________________