[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 17 (Monday, January 27, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H558-H563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMEMORATING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ-
                                BIRKENAU

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber) is recognized for 
the remainder of the hour.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today also to commemorate 
what is an anniversary we shouldn't have ever had to commemorate and be 
here for, again, the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-
Birkenau.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been to the concentration camps. I have seen the 
train tracks where they brought in loads of people in railcars and they 
herded people like they were cattle. I have seen the ovens. I have seen 
the gas chambers.
  Mr. Speaker, I saw where Dr. Josef Mengele performed experiments on 
people as if they were lab specimens; many of them women. It is 
something that we should never have experienced and should never 
experience again.
  Mr. Speaker, today, we do remember what the gentleman from New York 
said, the six million Jews who tragically lost their lives in the 
Holocaust. To keep that mind-numbing number in perspective, if we were 
to take a moment of silence for every Holocaust victim, I would stand 
up here for 11\1/2\ years.
  It is so imperative that we remember all of those who fought 
tirelessly to defeat the Nazi regime. With rising levels of anti-
Semitic sentiment attacks spreading in the West today, we should 
emulate those brave men and women that my good friend, Lee Zeldin 
talked about, the Greatest Generation who, in their spirit, they 
fought, and many of them gave all to combat and liberating those 
downtrodden by the Nazis, those families who were forever destroyed 
under the German Nazis; liberating them from anti-Semitism in all 
forms. Anti-Semitism needs to be defeated today.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues today as we recommit ourselves 
to the protection of our Jewish brothers and sisters and the State of 
Israel against all those who seek to destroy them, no matter what form. 
Come what may, BDS, anti-Semitism, all of those, may God protect Israel 
and the Jewish people, as we proudly say; and remind our children--what 
I call the latest generation--who need to understand what the Greatest 
Generation knew, and that is that it can never be tolerated, never 
again.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of International 
Holocaust Remembrance Day.
  Last week, I was honored to join the Speaker's congressional 
delegation to Poland and Israel, where we visited Auschwitz and 
participated in the Fifth World Holocaust Forum.
  We cannot fight the scourge of anti-Semitism without remembering the 
horrors that can occur when hate is allowed to flourish. As we 
commemorate this important day, we remember those lost, and let the 
lessons from the Holocaust guide our work today.
  As a co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-
Semitism, I will continue to work with my

[[Page H559]]

colleagues from both sides of the aisle to identify long-term solutions 
to this age-old problem.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas 
(Mr. Marshall).
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, today, January 27, marks International 
Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of 
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
  As the world pauses to remember the greatest tragedy in human 
history, we must recommit ourselves to opposing the murderous and 
racist ideology of anti-Semitism which led to the genocide and death of 
over six million Jews and 11 million political prisoners at the hands 
of the Nazi regime.
  We must also remember our continuing responsibility to educate the 
world about the horrible truth of the Nazi atrocities and ensure the 
lives of those who were brutally murdered are never forgotten.
  My fellow Kansan, General Dwight Eisenhower, who, at the time was the 
Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, understood this 
responsibility. Upon receiving news of the concentration camps, he 
quickly visited for himself, stating: ``The things I saw beggar 
description. While I was touring the camp, I encountered three men who 
had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I 
interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the 
verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were so 
overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were 
piled up 20 or 30 naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would 
not even enter. He said he would get sick if he did so. I made the 
visit deliberately, in order to be in position to give firsthand 
evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a 
tendency to charge these allegations merely to `propaganda'.''
  After his visit, General Eisenhower ordered the concentration camps 
to be visited by thousands of soldiers stationed off the front lines, 
as well as hundreds of German civilians, journalists, Allied forces, 
and Members of Congress, to ensure the truth reached the public.
  By the end of the war, the Nazi regime had succeeded in murdering 
one-third of the Jewish people in Europe. Its capacity to perpetrate 
absolute evil and hatred was on a scale never before seen.
  Today, this hatred continues to manifest itself in different contexts 
and ideologies. Just in the past year, we have witnessed violent 
attacks and the murder of Jews at synagogues and other Jewish 
institutions.
  Increasingly, we have watched as Members of Congress have promoted 
anti-Semitic slurs, stereotypes, and tropes, spreading lies about Jews 
controlling Congress in the media. It is the responsibility of every 
American to speak out against the hatred of these anti-Semites and 
educate others on the evil such hatred can bring.
  While the Nazi's ``Final Solution'' is unlikely to ever return in the 
form of concentration camps, in the words of Auschwitz survivor, Primo 
Levi: ``It happened. Therefore, it can happen again.''
  Every American across our great country would be wise to carry the 
same responsibility passed along by Eisenhower: To remember those who 
perished in the hellish nightmare of the Holocaust, to teach others 
their stories, and to ensure it never happens again.

  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer).
  Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Speaker, I am humbled to be here this evening to 
commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and, this year, the 
75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
  I would like to recognize all of my colleagues and fellow members of 
the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism for participating 
in this Special Order Hour; especially my friends, Congressman Ted 
Deutch, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Congressman Lee 
Zeldin, for their excellent leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, today we remember the six million Jews, and millions 
more murdered in the Shoah. We must always remember the Holocaust and 
recommit to learning the lessons of the attempt to eliminate European 
Jewry. We all have an obligation to teach future generations about this 
evil, and to pledge ``Never Again.''
  This day is deeply significant to my family and to me. I am the 
grandson of a World War II veteran who fought the Nazis, and my wife's 
grandparents lost their entire family in the Holocaust.
  It is critically important that we have come together to commemorate 
this solemn day, not just to remember the victims of the Holocaust 
killed by the Nazis in gas chambers and concentration camps simply for 
being Jews; but also because our history teaches us that we have a 
responsibility to confront bigotry, hatred, and intolerance wherever it 
can be found.
  Therefore, we cannot, and must not, ignore the stunning rise in anti-
Semitism and Holocaust denial across Europe, around the world and, 
increasingly, here at home in the United States, including the violent 
anti-Semitic attacks we have experienced in New York and New Jersey in 
recent months.
  Furthermore, the mounting evidence that knowledge about the Holocaust 
is beginning to fade should alarm us. As Elie Wiesel said: 
``Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger or hatred.''
  According to a recent survey by Pew Research Center, too many 
Americans know too little about the Holocaust. For instance, less than 
half of all adult respondents knew that approximately six million Jews 
were killed during the Holocaust; and just 43 percent knew that Adolf 
Hitler became chancellor of Germany through a democratic political 
process.
  Unfortunately, these findings echo a series of surveys conducted in 
the United States, Canada, Austria, and France in recent years, which 
also found significant gaps in knowledge about the Holocaust.
  We know how critical education, visiting a Holocaust museum, and 
meeting with survivors can be. That is why I am very proud to cosponsor 
H.R. 943, the Never Again Education Act, bipartisan legislation 
introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney and Congresswoman 
Stefanik, to help support Holocaust education across the country.
  This legislation was endorsed last year by the bipartisan Problem 
Solvers Caucus and has been cosponsored by nearly 300 Members of 
Congress. And I am very pleased that the House voted to pass this 
legislation earlier this evening.
  I also believe it is more important than ever for our government to 
commemorate the Holocaust and educate citizens about its history. That 
is why I worked with my colleagues, Representatives Ted Deutch and Brad 
Schneider, to ensure that our country properly remembers the horrors of 
the Holocaust as part of the United States' commemoration of the 75th 
anniversary of World War II.
  Additionally, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the TIME for Holocaust 
Survivors Act, which would provide better care to approximately 80,000 
survivors currently living in the United States.
  Finally, I am deeply grateful for, and very proud to support the 
critical, ongoing work of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 
the U.S. State Department's Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues and for 
Combating Anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program.
  This past fall, a bipartisan group of Members of Congress visited the 
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to tour the permanent 
exhibition.
  As President Clinton observed at the opening of the museum: ``One of 
the eternal lessons to which this museum bears strong witness is that 
the struggle against darkness will never end and the need for vigilance 
will never fade away.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the 
aisle who have gathered here today to commemorate this very solemn day. 
Given the rise of anti-Semitism here at home and around the world, we 
need leaders willing to stand up now, and to stand together against 
anti-Semitism, and all forms of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance, which 
have no place in our country or world.
  Together, as we talk to our families, when I talk to my children, we 
should always remember the victims of the Holocaust and take care of 
the survivors and their descendants.
  May God continue to bless the United States of America, watch over 
them; and let us always remember.

[[Page H560]]

  


                              {time}  2000

  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).
  Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, today we stand in support of the international day of 
commemoration in the memory of those victims of the Holocaust. January 
27 is also the day, again, 75 years ago, when Auschwitz was liberated, 
a day to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust so we may never allow 
such a horror to happen again anywhere on this planet. We must 
rededicate ourselves to ensuring that we confront evil and oppose all 
forms of anti-Semitism.
  Mr. Speaker, inconceivably, some have the audacity to deny that the 
Holocaust happened. Others advocate for boycott, divestment, and 
sanctions in regard to our democratic ally, the State of Israel.
  We have seen shocking anti-Semitic attacks waged against Jewish 
communities all over the world and even here in the United States. That 
is why I am so proud to join with my colleagues here in the House from 
both sides of the aisle in remembering our responsibility to confront 
indifference to evil whenever evil raises its head.
  Last week, I met with friends from the American Jewish Committee back 
home in the district, and I learned that 25 percent of Jews are afraid 
to visit their place of worship or to proudly display their deeply held 
beliefs in public because they are concerned or potentially afraid for 
their safety.
  Seventy-five years ago, the world saw this horrific revelation of the 
depths of human depravity. That is why, today, on the House floor, we 
stand united, together. Despite our potential differences, our 
religious traditions, our backgrounds, we stand united, together, to 
reiterate that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated, Mr. Speaker, and 
that Israel will always have the support of the United States of 
America.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Rhode 
Island (Mr. Cicilline).
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 
the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration 
camp, to honor the memories of the 6 million Jews and 5 million others 
murdered during the Holocaust and to tell the world that we will never 
forget. Today, we remember the lives lost during this incredibly dark 
period in human history.
  Jewish children of my generation grew up seeing the dark numbers 
etched into the arms of friends, neighbors, and family. We heard the 
stories directly from survivors about the families they loved and lost, 
the unspeakable brutality they endured, and the freedom they felt so 
lucky to have secured here in America.
  But today's children are the last generation who will have the 
opportunity to see and hear for themselves the stories of survivors. It 
is, therefore, our responsibility to keep their voices alive, to tell 
their stories, to be certain they know this history, and, most 
importantly, to absorb the lessons of the Holocaust so we can prevent 
future evil, inhumanity, and brutality.
  Sadly, we know that, in the United States today, fewer people are 
learning about the Holocaust. A Pew Research survey recently found that 
only 38 percent of American teens knew that 6 million Jews were 
murdered in the Holocaust.
  At the same time that Holocaust education is declining, we see a 
significant rise of neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements being 
fueled by the ability to communicate online and a rise in anti-Semitic 
attacks in the United States and around the world.
  If there is anything we can do to honor the lives of those murdered 
in the Shoah, it is to ensure that we don't allow time to erase their 
stories, their memories.
  We can't just look back. We must apply the lessons learned from the 
Holocaust, as painful as they are, to fight against hatred, bigotry, 
intolerance, and to remember the words of Dr. King: ``Injustice 
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.''
  Our burden as policymakers is to make certain that we are engaged in 
that fight against hatred, bigotry, and intolerance. I pray on this day 
of remembrance that we honor those who suffered and died at the hands 
of Nazi Germany by standing up to injustice wherever we see it.
  I thank my colleagues for their support on this somber day, and I 
urge Americans everywhere to never forget.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff).
  Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman for 
helping organize this evening.
  Mr. Speaker, today, as we commemorate International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day and the 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, it 
is important that we honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the 
Holocaust and the millions of other victims of the evil Nazi regime--we 
honor their memory, we honor their bravery, and we honor their spirit.
  It is also important that we pay tribute to the survivors who 
continue to share their stories to ensure that all of us, especially 
the younger generations, never forget the grave tragedy that took 
place. As Elie Wiesel said: ``For the dead and the living, we must bear 
witness.''
  Sadly, the frequency and the scale of anti-Semitic incidents in our 
Nation and across the globe have increased, causing deep alarm. We must 
continue to speak up, and we must continue to play a role in shining a 
spotlight on the ugly resurgence of this hate.
  Today, on the annual day of commemoration, my colleagues and I came 
together and we passed legislation, the Never Again Education Act, 
which will ensure our children, tomorrow's leaders, are taught about 
the horrors of the Holocaust.
  I appreciate my colleagues for joining me in being united in our 
mission to combat the rise of anti-Semitism around the world, as well 
as taking this time to honor the victims of the Holocaust.
  We must take this opportunity to reflect on the past in hopes of 
preventing this type of evil from reoccurring. Let us remember those 
who perished in the Holocaust and pray that this never happens again.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Schneider).
  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Weber) for yielding. I thank all of my colleagues as we join today and 
we remember, as we rise in recognition of International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day, memorializing the genocide of more than 6 million 
Jews, including 1\1/2\ million children. This year's observance holds 
special meaning, as it is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of 
Auschwitz.
  Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi death camp, where more than 
1.1 million people--men, women, and children--were brutally murdered. 
The Nazis sent many people, including political dissidents, 
intellectuals, Roma, and LGBTQ people to Auschwitz; but the vast 
majority, 90 percent of the victims, were Jewish.
  Last week, I had the solemn and profound honor to visit Auschwitz 
with a bipartisan congressional delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 
We walked through the gas chambers. We stood before the ovens built to 
burn up to 1,800 bodies each day. We visited the barracks where people 
slept five to a rack, three racks high. We saw what seemed like 
infinite piles of suitcases, shoes, eyeglasses, even human hair 
collected from the victims by their Nazi killers.
  Notably, in a place representing humanity's greatest crime, where 
people were denied the ability to even pray to their God, we joined 
with our Polish hosts to honor the memories of the martyrs by reciting 
the Kaddish, the Jewish mourners' prayer.
  At Auschwitz in the days that followed, we all asked ourselves: How 
could the Holocaust happen? Could it happen in today's world? And how 
do we ensure that such evil never happens again?
  A key lesson of the Holocaust is that we cannot remain silent in the 
face of rising anti-Semitism. Right now, that lesson is more important 
than ever in the face of a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism around 
the world, including here in the United States.
  In 2018, a gunman walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in 
Pittsburgh and killed 11 people. It was the worst anti-Semitic attack 
in our Nation's

[[Page H561]]

history, but it was not the last: a synagogue in Poway, California; a 
kosher grocery in New Jersey; a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, New 
York; across the country, a staggering increase in verbal and physical 
assaults, vandalism, and other acts of Jewish hate. The numbers are 
horrifying.
  Globally, Jews are being told to not publicly wear a yarmulke or 
other outward symbols of their Jewish identity. Throughout Europe and 
increasingly here at home, armed guards are posted outside synagogues, 
Jewish schools, and community centers. Entire communities are living in 
fear.
  We cannot remain silent. All of us, no matter who we are, where we 
live, or how we worship, all of us must speak out and condemn both 
anti-Semitic words and actions whenever and wherever hate raises its 
ugly head.
  In the House of Representatives, we have and will continue to take 
action to confront anti-Semitism. Last year, the House passed the 
strongest resolution in our history to clearly state we reject anti-
Semitic stereotypes and considered anti-Semitic acts and statements to 
be hateful expressions of intolerance that are contrary to American 
values. We passed a bill to secure $90 million in funding to defend 
vulnerable houses of worship.
  Congress continues to help fund the United States Holocaust Memorial 
Museum to preserve the memory, teach the lessons, and lead the work to 
stop future genocides. Today, this House passed legislation to increase 
our commitment to teaching the next generation about the Shoah.
  Congress isn't just focused on anti-Semitism here at home. In 2016 
and 2017, the House pressured the administration to fill the long 
vacant position of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. 
Finally, last year, President Trump appointed Elan Carr to this role to 
coordinate America's response to anti-Semitism around the world.
  As for our trip, after visiting Auschwitz on Tuesday, our group flew 
to Israel to join delegations from 49 different nations, including 41 
heads of state, at a historic commemoration ceremony at Yad Vashem on 
Thursday. In the largest diplomatic gathering in Israel's history, 
flanked by Kings, Prime Ministers, and Presidents, we spoke with one 
common voice to honor the memories of the 6 million people lost. We 
celebrated the survivors and the righteous gentiles who defied the 
Nazis to save thousands of lives, and we renewed our commitment to 
fight anti-Semitism now and forever.
  Finally, before returning home, the group had the chance to meet with 
several Holocaust survivors and hear their stories. It is said that, by 
hearing the testimony of a living witness to the Holocaust, we are made 
witnesses ourselves. As the remaining survivors age, soon we will be at 
a point where we will have lost the last survivor's voice. We, the 
living, must work to preserve their stories for future generations.

  Only by remembering the lives lost and speaking out against 
intolerance in our own time can we live up to our sacred promise: Never 
again.
  We remember. We will live up to our promise: Never again.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hill).
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend our bipartisan group of Members on this floor 
tonight to rise on Holocaust Remembrance Day to pay tribute to all 
those who were affected by the enormity, the calamity, and the horrors 
of the Holocaust.
  Today marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp at 
Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
  ``For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to 
humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, 
women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. 
Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945.''
  Two years ago, I will never forget reading those words as I paid my 
respects on a visit to this enormous Nazi death machine. This side of 
humanity's greatest failure amongst millennia of human failure was a 
manufacturing facility. The Nazi's product: murder.
  Laying a wreath at the death wall, kneeling in prayer before the 
memorial all failed to comfort the visitor from the nightmares imposed 
by the pile of shoes, a tiny sample of 43,000 pairs of shoes, or the 
fantasy of encouraged belongings from stacks of suitcases, or the 
physical horror of hair cut from the heads of those to be gassed.

                              {time}  2015

  Mr. Speaker, millions of Jews, Roma, Poles, and Serbs stepped off the 
trains there at Auschwitz, only days later to have their souls severed 
from their earthly forms.
  Mr. Speaker, I share the concern and the voice of my colleagues 
today. I stand with friends on both sides of the Atlantic, urging 
rejection of anti-Semitism, rejecting the rising boycott and 
divestiture movement against Israel, and speaking the truth.
  All of us on this House floor tonight are united in speaking that 
truth and voting today overwhelmingly to teach our children the truth 
of the Holocaust.
  Never again, Mr. Speaker. Never again.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin).
  Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Weber) for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, when we remember the Holocaust, we look backward and 
forward. We look backward to remember those who perished, 6 million 
Jewish men, women, and children, every one of whom has a story and 
loved ones who may have survived the horrors of the Holocaust but were 
left with the searing wounds of these losses. Many other people--Slavs, 
LGBTQ people, political dissidents, disabled people, and others--would 
lose their lives to Nazi terror before the war ended.
  At the same time, we must look forward. We can't simply pledge 
``never again''; we must live ``never again'' day after day.
  Why is this so important? Kurt Messerschmidt, a Holocaust survivor, 
recalled encountering a crowd of people in the aftermath of what we now 
call Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, one of the most 
horrific anti-Jewish attacks in history.
  Over 2 days in November 1938, mobs across Germany and parts of 
Austria and Czechoslovakia destroyed synagogues, Jewish-owned 
businesses, homes, schools, and cemeteries. Under instructions from the 
Gestapo, local authorities did nothing to stop the violence and 
destruction.
  The crowd Messerschmidt came across was watching an older man who had 
been ordered by Nazi soldiers to clean up the broken glass outside his 
own store. Messerschmidt, who helped the man, would later say: ``I am 
sure that some of the people standing there disapproved of what the 
Nazis did, but their disapproval was only silence, and silence is what 
did the harm.''
  Today, let us remember the danger of silence. We must loudly and 
consistently call out anti-Semitism in all its forms, whether it comes 
from our adversaries or our friends and whether it is promulgated 
intentionally or unknowingly. We must strive to do so in a way that 
truly fosters understanding.
  Let us also recommit never again to allow people, any people, to be 
obliterated by otherness. Let us fight the rising menace of 
ethnonationalism across the globe, and let us do everything in our 
power to protect all those who have been deemed ``other,'' from the 
Rohingya people of Burma to the Iraqi nationals in my own district 
facing deportation and grave danger.
  Only when we have done this can we truly say that we lived up to our 
promise of ``never again.''
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Trone).
  Mr. TRONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Today, we remember one of the darkest chapters in our history, the 
Shoah, when 6 million Jews were brutally murdered in a genocide that 
left an indelible mark on humanity.
  This year marks 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-
Birkenau Nazi death camp.
  There alone, 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed. Today, we 
remember them, and we say again: ``Never again.''
  International Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as a reminder of what 
depravity humans are capable of

[[Page H562]]

when we don't make it a priority to end hate and intolerance. We must 
remember the victims now and always, and that includes making Holocaust 
education a priority in our schools. I am thankful that today my 
colleagues and I passed legislation to do just that.
  There is no place for anti-Semitism, racism, hate, or intolerance in 
2020. I join with my colleagues today in saying: ``Never again.''
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for being here 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Shalala).
  Ms. SHALALA. Mr. Speaker, today, on International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day, we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of 
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
  We remember the 6 million Jews, as well as millions of other minority 
populations, who were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime and 
its collaborators. We remember the families who were separated and the 
sacrifices made by those who protected Jewish lives.
  Pure evil was committed against Jews, Roma, Catholics, LGBTQ 
individuals, people with disabilities, and others.
  We honor the 10,000 Holocaust survivors who live in south Florida and 
the nearly 70,000 more who live around the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to honor my friend, Dr. Miriam Klein 
Kassenoff, who fled Nazi Europe as a child in 1941. An educational 
specialist for Holocaust studies at Miami-Dade County Public Schools 
and director of the Holocaust Institute at the University of Miami, 
Miriam has dedicated her life to educating the new generation of 
teachers and students about the horrors of the Holocaust.
  Mr. Speaker, as we enter this new decade, we recommit ourselves to 
ensuring that ``never again'' means never again. We will never stop 
fighting virulent, hateful anti-Semitism and discrimination wherever 
and whenever it appears.

  In this House, the people's House, we stand together, united against 
hate. We stand together in pledging ``never again.''
  Never again.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida 
for her comments, and I yield to another gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Wasserman Schultz).
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, today, we remember the 6 million Jews and millions of 
others who were systematically murdered in the darkest chapter of human 
history.
  Last week, I had the privilege of traveling with a bipartisan 
delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to two nations forever 
interlaced into the fabric of Jewish history: the first, a monument to 
tragedy; the second, a beacon of hope.
  In Poland at Auschwitz-Birkenau, we saw firsthand the painful cruelty 
of the Nazi regime. We walked the train tracks that transported 
innocent people to captivity and the gas chambers, which led to their 
cruel and inhumane slaughter.
  After our time in Poland, I, like so many Jews escaping the horrors 
they experienced in Europe, traveled to the Holy Land with my 
colleagues. In Israel, we witnessed hope, the homeland of the Jewish 
people.
  I continue to be inspired to see that such generational trauma 
experienced by our people could be harnessed into something as powerful 
as democracy.
  At Yad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to Holocaust victims, we 
participated in a solemn commemoration to those who did not live to see 
a homeland that would be theirs. We heard the stories of the lives lost 
to hate and of the men and women who managed to survive that torture.
  I represent one of the largest survivors of the Holocaust populations 
in the United States. As the last generation of survivors ends their 
twilight years, it is even more important now that we keep their 
memories alive and recorded for future generations.
  In the face of rising hate and anti-Semitism at home and abroad, we 
all have a role to play in fighting bigotry wherever and whenever it 
rears its ugly head.
  The legislation the House passed today, the Never Again Education 
Act, which provides teachers with resources to teach children the 
important lessons of the Holocaust and the consequences of bigotry and 
hate, is a critically important and vital step.
  As co-chair of the Latino-Jewish Caucus and the Congressional Caucus 
on Black-Jewish Relations and a proud member of the Task Force on 
Combating Anti-Semitism, I am proud that we have all come together 
today to organize this Special Order in honor of International 
Holocaust Remembrance Day.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for 
making this a priority so that we could give voice to the notion of 
``never again.''
  Today, we remember to ensure that never again will the horrors of the 
past be repeated.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for being 
here for tonight's Special Order, and I yield to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Deutch).
  Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so honored to be here on International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day with colleagues, Democratic and Republican alike, who 
understand the importance of giving real meaning to the words ``never 
again.''
  Standing at Auschwitz-Birkenau as we did with a bipartisan delegation 
last week, what you can't help but be struck by is the effort, the 
enormous effort that the Nazis went to, to try to destroy the Jewish 
people, to wipe them from the face of the Earth. Yet, they failed.
  The State of Israel is strong, the strong homeland of the Jewish 
people. In a world that Adolf Hitler could never have imagined, that 
the Nazis could never have imagined, Jewish Members of the House, like 
myself, have the opportunity like the one now to remind America why 
this is so important.
  Like my colleague from Florida, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, I 
represent a lot of survivors. Twice a year, our local Jewish family 
service organization has a program called Cafe Europa. They bring 
together the survivors from our community for lunch and the opportunity 
to socialize, to enjoy music, and to be with one another.
  They sit the survivors at tables based on the communities in Europe 
that they came from, communities where the Nazis tried to eradicate all 
the Jews. Here they are now, most in their nineties, coming together, 
in this case in south Florida, with the opportunity to be with one 
another.
  What is so remarkable is that at virtually every one of these 
meetings, there is a moment when a survivor from a community in Europe 
is able to reunite with another survivor from that community that he or 
she has not seen since before World War II. They have the chance to 
share their stories not just with each other, but they get to share 
their stories with all of us.
  Some, like Norman Frajman, a dear friend of mine who lost 126 family 
members in the Holocaust, was clear when he said, in speaking about 
Cafe Europa: ``We are disappearing, but when I see faces here, it does 
my heart good. There are still witnesses to this tragedy, and younger 
generations must learn of these atrocities that occur when hatred 
toward one another occurs. We must replace hate with love.''
  Norman is right.

                              {time}  2030

  Sylvia Richter, also from south Florida, was at Cafe Europa and said 
this in describing what happened to her, she said:

       My sisters and I were chosen by Dr. Mengele. I was forced 
     to lie about my age and say I was 17 instead of 14. A female 
     Nazi officer wiped black soot off her arm and told me it was 
     my mother, father and siblings that she was wiping away and 
     if I didn't keep lying, this would be me too. As she wiped 
     away those ashes, she wiped away my smile. I never smiled 
     again until 1946.

  There are people in America, there are people in the world who deny 
the Holocaust. There are far too many people who don't know the details 
of what happened during the Holocaust, and, sadly, these voices, these 
survivors will not be with us for too many more years.
  That is why this is so important today. That is why it is so 
important for all of us to come together, to pledge

[[Page H563]]

``Never again'' and to make it mean something.
  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to be here today with 
my colleagues from both sides of the aisle. There is nothing partisan 
about standing up to hatred and bigotry and fighting anti-Semitism. 
That is what we are showing here tonight.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
comments, and I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Today, I had the opportunity to attend the anniversary of the 
liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau celebration that was held at the 
United Nations.
  It was a stirring program with testimony from two survivors who told 
of the awful situation they had to survive, the loss of their parents, 
the atrocious conduct of the Nazis, and a systematic attempt to destroy 
the Jewish community.
  There were survivors, a lady and a man, and the lady said: ``Hitler 
did not win.'' She had her family with her, and she said that her 
family is a sign that Hitler did not win. And he did not win.
  But there is anti-Semitism in this world and in this country that is 
in greater numbers and greater volume and greater threats than any time 
since the Holocaust. We must stand up to it.
  Many of the speakers talked about the importance of education and, 
indeed, that is important.
  In 1984, I passed a Holocaust education program in the Tennessee 
Holocaust Commission, which exists to this day and is now a standing 
program. We need those programs in States, and we also need education 
in the classroom. The bill we passed today was important and good. But 
we need to do more than just talk about it.
  When the Klan raises its ugly head in Charlottesville, Virginia, and 
other places, we have to condemn the Ku Klux Klan whose whole basis is 
against African Americans and against Jews because of their race and 
because of their religion.
  Every person who is against anti-Semitism should be against racism, 
should be against all kinds of intolerance and discrimination because 
it starts with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews. The Jews are, 
indeed, a canary--African Americans have been, too--of other problems 
in the society and the ugly head of racism and ethnic oppositions based 
on xenophobic conduct, so we have to be concerned.
  When the Klan speaks up, we can't say in any way at all that there 
are fine people among the Klan's people. Nor can we do that with other 
groups. And when David Duke speaks up, we have to realize that David 
Duke hates Blacks and hates Jews and needs to be condemned by all 
people on both sides.
  I want to read a quote that I saw on social media. I am not a big fan 
of social media. I use it to some extent, but much of it is hateful.
  But this is from a man who goes by the name of Julius Goat. I think 
his real name is A. R. Moxon:
  ``Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not 
because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or 
a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious 
values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or 
convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
  ``That word is `Nazi.' Nobody cares about their motives anymore.''
  The motives which brought about the Nazi Party and the Holocaust need 
to be confronted in its nascent stages, and we need to do it when the 
Klan speaks, when David Duke speaks, and others.
  So I want to thank everybody who has participated in this Special 
Order and Mr. Weber for sponsoring it. It was an honor to be in New 
York with so many distinguished speakers, and an emotional program 
about the Holocaust. ``Never again.''
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to my friends on both sides of the aisle 
for being here to express those sentiments.
  Mr. Speaker, President Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941, was a 
day that would live in infamy. On this day, 75 years ago, a horrific 
infamy was revealed--one that should never have been allowed and one 
that should never ever be allowed.
  Mr. Speaker, 6 million Jews and their families were subjected not 
just to a day of infamy, but a lifetime of the memory of that kind of 
infamy and the effect it had on their families. They will be 
remembering that horror for a long time. My friend from Florida talked 
about the people who come back and meet each other since before World 
War II.
  Anti-Semitism, BDS, that kind of infamy should not be allowed 
anywhere at any time.
  Mr. Speaker, let us covenant together that not now, not tomorrow, and 
not ever, never again will it be allowed. I yield back the balance of 
my time.

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