[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.

                          ____________________