[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H475-H477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOMENTS IN TIME THAT IMPACT THE REST OF TIME
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.
Today, I would like to thank the Speaker of the House, Speaker
McCarthy, and the leadership on the Republican side as well as Minority
Leader Jeffries and the leadership on the Democratic side for affording
me this opportunity to be heard.
And still I rise, Mr. Speaker, and I rise today because there are
moments in time that impact the rest of time. January 27 of 1945 was
such a time.
January 27, 1945: It is said there are days that will live in infamy.
This has to be at the top of the list of such days because today we
will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day because of an
event that took place on January 27, 1945.
Please allow me to share with you, Mr. Speaker, some information that
I have from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz and liberated
more than 7,000 remaining prisoners who were mostly ill and dying. It
is estimated, Mr. Speaker, that at minimum, 1.3 million people were
deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. Of these, at least 1.1
million people were murdered.
One person who survived--whose name I shall not reveal but is
available to me for those who might want to make a further inquiry--
indicated: ``So I was hiding out in the heap of dead bodies because in
the last week when the crematoria didn't function at all, the bodies
were just building up higher and higher.''
Another person indicated: ``And they said, `From now on you do not
answer by your name. Your name is your number.' And the delusion, the
disappointment, the discouragement that I felt, I felt like I was not a
human person anymore.''
This is what happened to people at Auschwitz--human beings being
reduced to numbers and sentenced to death, innocent people.
Another article from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in the U.K.
indicates:
27 January 1945, liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
On 27 January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz-
Birkenau the largest Nazi concentration and extermination
camp.
Mr. Speaker, many people focus on the concentration aspect of what
happened there, and we should. But the horrific occurrence included
extermination. This means in everyday language the murder of innocent
people.
{time} 1330
This article goes on to indicate:
``When Soviet soldiers arrived, they found several thousand emaciated
survivors and the smoldering remains of gas chambers and crematoria
after the Nazis had attempted to destroy evidence of their crimes.''
An article from ``This Day in History'' on history.com indicates, on
January 27, 1945, Auschwitz is liberated.
``On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing
the survivors of the network of concentration camps--and finally
revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
``Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III.
There were also 40 smaller `satellite' camps.''
This was a commercial operation, as it were, wherein there was a
systemic means by which persons were being put to death. These are my
words.
Continuing with the words from the article:
``It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941,
that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground:
300 prison barracks; 4 `bathhouses' in which prisoners were gassed;
corpse cellars; and cremating ovens.''
Stepping aside for a moment, it seems that it is difficult for some
people to believe what actually occurred. It is so horrific that some
human minds refuse to accept what occurred.
[[Page H476]]
Now, there may be others who for reasons associated with malice
aforethought have just decided they won't agree. But there are many
people who just cannot, with their human mind, conceive of such a thing
happening.
I want to comment on something that I saw this morning on television
and compliment Joe of ``Morning Joe.'' He went to Auschwitz, and he was
reporting from Auschwitz. I compliment him because, too often, we don't
allow the actual place where these things occurred, the venue, to be
properly exposed to the public. I thank him for going there because he
has inspired me to believe that this is a place that I have to add to
my bucket list. I want to go and see for myself the facility that
facilitated, with the hands of evil persons, the murder of millions of
people. I want to see what actually happened in those facilities,
actually see the facilities where these horrors occurred: 300 prison
barracks, 4 bathhouses in which prisoners were gassed.
``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments.''
I have been to Yad Vashem in Israel. It breaks your heart. For many
people, it is impossible to go there and not have tears well in your
eyes. It is impossible to see the depictions of persons who were used
as human guinea pigs, experimented on. It is impossible to see the
horrors depicted and not leave feeling the sorrow and the hurt and the
pain associated with knowing that human beings were tortured and
experimented upon.
Continuing on: ``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical
experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele,
the `angel of death.' . . . In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, SS
officers began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners''
in their efforts to destroy the evidence. No more ovens. If they
couldn't get to them, just take your weapon and kill, kill sick people.
Just kill to destroy the living evidence of the horrors and evils that
were being perpetrated. `` . . . shooting sick prisoners and blowing up
crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their
crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers
encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors.
There were also six storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of
women's dresses, men's suits, and shoes that Germans did not have time
to burn.''
They valued the clothing. They valued the paraphernalia more than
they valued the lives of the people. They saved the material things and
destroyed the human beings. What kind of people were they? Evil is not
a sufficient label for persons who would do such dastardly things.
Mr. Speaker, in the United States, Days of Remembrance for Victims of
the Holocaust were formalized when President Carter signed the
establishing resolution. The Days of Remembrance will occur in April.
President Carter signed the resolution. The resolution was signed for
April 28 and April 29. It passed the House on April 17, 1978. It passed
the Senate on April 25, 1978, and President Carter signed the
resolution on September 18, 1978, the Holocaust Remembrance Day
Resolution designating April 28 and 29, 1979, as days of remembrance of
victims of the Holocaust.
Here are words from the resolution:
``Whereas, 6 million Jews and millions of other people were murdered
in concentration camps as part of a program of extermination carried
out by the Nazi Party during World War II;
``Whereas, the people of the United States should recognize''--this
is what the resolution said; I would add ``people of the world should
recognize''--``that all acts of bigotry are rooted in the cruelty of
spirit and the callousness that led the Nazis to commit atrocities
against millions of people, and should dedicate themselves to the
principle of human equality.''
Speaking aside for a moment, the world should recognize, not just the
United States but the world, that those who tolerate bigotry perpetuate
bigotry. The acceptance of bigotry, the toleration of bigotry, is the
perpetuation of bigotry, and we should all devote ourselves to the
principle of human equality.
This is from our resolution, the dedication and devotion of ourselves
to human equality. I am proud of the House of Representatives for
passing this resolution.
It continues:
``Whereas the people of the United States should recognize that
tyranny creates the political atmosphere in which bigotry flourishes,
and should be vigilant to detect, and ready to resist, the tyrannical
exercise of power.''
Let me step aside for a moment and remind us that not only should we
resist the tyrannical exercise of power; we should also resist the
voices that verbalize power. We should resist those who would march
through the streets of an American city carrying torches, shouting,
``Jews will not replace us.'' Our failure to resist and to announce, to
state without question, without hesitation, or reservation, that such
persons are persons who are perpetuating bigotry and hatred, the kind
of bigotry and hatred that can lead to the death of people, our failure
to do so is a means by which our inaction causes the perpetuation of
bigotry and violence.
Inaction is unacceptable. Every person has a duty, a responsibility,
and an obligation to speak up and speak out against such demonstrations
by people in this country.
The unfortunate circumstance is that, in this country, there is at
least one person who would proclaim that among those who were
screaming, ``Jews will not replace us,'' there is at least one person
who found some ``nice people'' to be among the ranks of those who would
say such a thing.
``Whereas, on April 29 of 1945 the Armed Forces of the United States
liberated the surviving victims of Nazi internment in the concentration
camp in Dachau, Germany, and revealed to the world evidence of a tragic
human Holocaust that must never be forgotten. . . .''
To never forget is to do more than to recite what happened. To never
forget requires that we also denounce those who would do dastardly
deeds today. It is good for us to say that those who perpetrated deeds
in the past should not be forgotten, but we must also denounce those
who would perpetrate such dastardly deeds today.
These deeds include statements that some people see as harmless, what
they see as just name-calling. When you call a person who happens to be
of a certain ancestry the name ``Coco Chow,'' that is just name-calling
to some people. When it comes from a person who has held the highest
office in the land, it is more than name-calling. It gives some people
a belief that people of a certain ethnicity, of a certain ancestry, are
not as worthy of human life as others.
We have a responsibility to call out these things. We cannot allow
this kind of name-calling, which can eventually conclude in the loss of
life, to go unchecked. We have to check it. I am here today to check
it.
{time} 1345
Ours is a great country. I love my country. I salute the flag. I say
the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing the national anthem. I stand. I place
my hand over my heart. I love my country. But that doesn't mean that I
won't criticize those who would do things that would cause harm to
others within the country.
It also doesn't mean that I won't defend those who choose not to
salute the flag, who choose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing
the national anthem. That is a right that they have in this country.
We also have to recognize that all of us, we have to denounce people
who say things, who use words that according to Emily Dickinson when
she indicated to us: ``A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say
it just begins to live that day.'' Those who give life to these words
can cause some people to harm other people.
Whereas the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, is not only a
shocking symbol of Nazi brutality and destruction, but also a symbol of
the danger inherent in tyranny, the pernicious quality of bigotry, and
the human capacity to be cruel: Therefore, now, be it resolved by the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled that April 28 and 29 of 1979 are designated as
``Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust,'' and the President
is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon
[[Page H477]]
the people of the United States to observe such days with appropriate
ceremonies and activities. Approved September 18, 1978.
Today, we commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz.
Later on, we will commemorate these days of remembrance. I have lived
long enough now to know that if we fail to remember the Holocaust, a
great human tragedy, a crime against humanity unlike any other, there
is no other crime against humanity that can be compared to the
Holocaust, just as there is no other crime against humanity that can be
compared to slavery.
If we fail to remember the crimes against humanity committed in
Auschwitz, I believe, unfortunately, that humankind is capable of
repeating the horrors of the Holocaust. It is our eternal vigilance
that will prevent this from ever occurring again. Our failure to be
vigilant will create days that the human mind cannot conceive of
occurring again.
I am here today as a Member of Congress to make sure that my record
reflects that I will not forget, that I will stand with my Jewish
brothers and sisters against all who would claim that the Holocaust
never occurred, against all who were to proclaim that Jewish people
have done things that would merit this kind of horrific behavior. I
stand with them. They are my brothers and sisters. Their lives are
important to me, and the lives that were lost are important to me.
I want my record to reflect that when I had the opportunity as a
Member of Congress to stand before the world and take a stand, Mr.
Speaker, I want my record to reflect that I took a stand against the
evils that took place at Auschwitz and the evils of the Holocaust.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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