[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E92-E93]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NEVER AGAIN EDUCATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 27, 2020

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 943, 
``Never Again Education Act,'' which requires the creation of the 
Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund for the Department of 
Education.
  The fund will award grants to qualified entities to implement 
Holocaust education programs and host a series of regional workshops to 
provide teachers with assistance on how to incorporate Holocaust 
education into standard teaching while meeting state and local 
education requirements.
  The establishment of the Holocaust Education Advisory Board to 
prepare application criteria for grant recipients, and the formulation 
of the Holocaust education program website will allow for a regulated, 
definitive introduction of this curriculum.
  Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, is an international memorial 
day that marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps in 
January 1945.
  In addition to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, we must also remember the 
victims of the Belzec, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Chelmno, Dachau, 
Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenburg, Gross-Rosen, Janowska, Kaiserwald, 
Majdanek, Mauthasen, Natzweiler-Struthof, Neuengamme, Oranienburg, 
Plaszow, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen, Sobibor, Stutthof, Terezin, 
Treblinka and Westerbork concentration camps.
  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that the 
extermination by the Nazi regime and its allies led to the deaths of 6 
million Jews.
  In addition to the millions of deaths within the Jewish community, 
the Third Reich separately targeted and murdered many other communities 
and ethnic groups, some estimates range from an additional 3 million to 
11 million deaths.
  These deaths include members of the LGBTQ community, the physically 
and mentally disabled, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Romani, 
Poles, Serbians, Spanish Republicans, members of the Soviet Union, 
Soviet Prisoners of War, people of Slavic descent, Germans of African 
descent, Communists, Socialists and more.
  After Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, France 
and Britain declared war on Germany, officially beginning World War II.
  World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945 and caused about 75 million 
deaths, including members of the military and civilians, around 3 
percent of the world's population at the time.
  Almost 75 years have passed since the end of World War II, but the 
aftermath is still a reminder of a brutal and merciless era of history

[[Page E93]]

where racism and prejudice were unleashed on a grand scale seeking to 
quench the rights of man.
  The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reports that its Registry 
of Holocaust Survivors currently contains the names of over 195,000 
survivors and family members.
  In 1981, Holocaust survivor and Houston resident Siegi Izakson had 
the inspiration to create an education center and memorial to preserve 
the memory of those who perished, the stories of those who survived and 
to educate the public about the threats of prejudice and hatred in 
society.
  Thanks to Siegi Izakson's tireless dedication, the Holocaust Museum 
Houston opened on March 3, 1996 and is fully bilingual in English and 
Spanish, contains a welcome center, multiple galleries, a research 
library, indoor theater, outdoor amphitheater and interactive terminals 
with doors open to 130,000 visitors per year.
  In the United States, there are over 50 Holocaust museums and 
memorials dedicated to educating people about the dangers of hatred and 
genocide, protecting democratic values and preventing antisemitism.
  In June 2019, Texas enacted S. Bill 1828, requiring that Texas 
schools include age appropriate instruction concerning the Holocaust 
for grades kindergarten through 12.
  The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission has worked with Texas 
government agencies to adopt new educational standards that approach 
the Holocaust, genocide and mass murders.
  Texas students will learn about these topics in their World Geography 
Studies, World History Studies, and United States History Studies Since 
1877 courses.
  I support this bill because it will enhance the quality of our 
students' education and provide them with an authentic understanding of 
this dark and complex chapter in world history.
  The creation of the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund for 
the Department of Education will only improve the knowledge provided to 
our children.
  The Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund for the Department of 
Education will award grants to eligible entities to create Holocaust 
education program and conduct workshops with teachers on how to include 
this information along with students' normal educational programs.
  The Department of Education will maintain a Holocaust education 
program website with resources for middle and high school students, 
establish the Holocaust Education Advisory Board to develop criteria 
for the fund's grants, and decide on content for the Holocaust 
education program website and lead efforts to promote donations for the 
fund.
  The Holocaust requires us to remember the magnitude with which 
antisemitism, racism, Nazism and fascism destroyed millions of lives, 
as well as consider the consequences of apathy and passivity.
  I ask my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to vote in support 
of H.R. 943.

                          ____________________