[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20249-20250]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1938 OCCURRENCE OF 
                KRISTALLNACHT, THE NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS

  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1435) recognizing the 70th anniversary 
of the 1938 occurrence of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1435

       Whereas November 9, 2008, through November 10, 2008, marks 
     the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken 
     Glass;
       Whereas during Kristallnacht, hundreds of synagogues in 
     Germany and Austria were burned and destroyed, businesses and 
     homes were ransacked, scores of innocent people were killed 
     because they were Jews, and thousands of others were arrested 
     and sent to concentration camps;
       Whereas Kristallnacht was sanctioned by the Nazi state to 
     foment anti-Semitism and terrorize Jewish citizens;
       Whereas the shattered panes of glass that littered 
     sidewalks, most of it coming from the shop windows of Jewish 
     stores, gave the pogrom its name, Kristallnacht or ``Night of 
     Broken Glass'';
       Whereas Kristallnacht marked the Nazis' first centrally 
     organized operation of large-scale, anti-Jewish violence;
       Whereas the lack of any serious diplomatic consequences 
     from civilized nations led the Governments of Germany and 
     Austria to believe that further atrocities would go 
     unpunished;
       Whereas Kristallnacht served as a prelude to the Second 
     World War, to the death of millions of innocent people, and 
     to the mass murders and carnage on a scale never before seen 
     in human history;
       Whereas the reign of the Nazi government marks one of the 
     darkest periods in civilized history; and
       Whereas Kristallnacht should remind us all that evil must 
     be confronted forcefully and the civilized world cannot watch 
     idly while barbarism and mass murder are committed against 
     innocent peoples: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, The 
     Night of Broken Glass;
       (2) pays tribute to the over 6,000,000 Jewish people who 
     were killed during the Holocaust; and
       (3) recommits the United States to continued vigilance 
     against these kind of atrocities and urges the international 
     community to fight against organized aggression directed at 
     religious, ethnic, and other minority groups wherever it may 
     occur.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Scott) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Georgia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
  Let me first thank the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Hodes) for 
offering this important resolution, which marks the 70th anniversary of 
Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. His leadership on the 
Holocaust-related issues is greatly appreciated.
  On the night of November 9, 1938, the streets of German and Austrian 
cities were littered with the shattered glass of Jewish homes, 
businesses and synagogues. Ninety-one people lost their lives and 
30,000 were deported to concentration camps during the course of this 
pogrom. Buchenwald and Dachau soon filled with Jews who had been 
deprived of their property, their savings and their livelihoods by the 
Nazis.
  Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, showed the world once and 
for all the true face of the Nazi regime and served as a prelude to the 
horrors that would soon befall Europe's Jewish community. As Germany's 
synagogues burned on this terrible night, the governments of the west, 
including our own, failed to take meaningful action. Ambassadors were 
recalled, speeches were made, but the Nazis' orchestrated

[[Page 20250]]

pogrom resulted in the diplomatic equivalent of just a slap on the 
wrist.
  We condemn not just the destruction wrought against Germany and 
Austria's Jewish community that terrifying night, but we also condemn 
the world's inaction, which undoubtedly led the Nazis to believe the 
international community would offer little resistance to their plans to 
murder all the Jews in Europe.
  Though 70 years have passed since the Nazis began to set in motion 
the final solution, and 63 years since the liberation of the last of 
their death camps, we must continue to maintain our vigilance against 
all forms of ethnic, national and religious hatreds.
  Adolf Hitler exploited the world's failure to protect those 
threatened by the Nazi's vicious ideology of hate. As we reflect upon 
the anniversary of this infamous night and pay tribute to the over 6 
million people killed in the Holocaust, we must recommit ourselves to 
preventing genocide anywhere and any time.
  I strongly support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  The night of November 9 through November 10 of the year 1938 
consisted of hours of darkness that the world cannot afford to forget. 
Known as Kristallnacht, that horrible night of unleashed terror and 
violence that we remember in this resolution before us today, was the 
clear signal for the start of Adolf Hitler's orchestrated campaign of 
genocide.
  On that night, as state-sponsored violence poured out into the 
streets, the halls of civilized governments were mute. Joseph Goebbels 
had announced in his speech on the day of November 8, and I quote, 
``The Fuhrer has decided that . . . demonstrations should not be 
prepared or organized by the Party, but insofar as they erupt 
spontaneously, they are not to be hampered.''
  Following that speech, regional leaders of Hitler's National 
Socialist Party issued instructions to their local offices, and 
violence erupted across Germany and in some neighboring countries as 
well, in a matter that was anything but spontaneous. For 48 terrible 
hours, mobs rampaged through the streets of German, Czechoslovak and 
Austrian cities.
  The riots destroyed 267 synagogues, shattered an estimated 7,500 
windows of Jewish-owned businesses and desecrated many Jewish 
cemeteries. The Night of Broken Glass claimed the lives of at least 91 
Jewish citizens.
  Unfortunately, the rest of the world remained largely silent when 
confronted with the news of this organized brutality. We can only 
wonder how history might have changed, how the war and the genocide of 
the subsequent years might have been avoided if silence had been 
replaced by condemnation and strong action.
  As we look back at the events of that terrible night, from the 
perspective of the passage of 70 years, we recall what our president at 
that time, Franklin Roosevelt, said. ``I, myself, could scarcely 
believe that such things could occur in a 20th century civilization.''
  As we consider this resolution, which notes this terrible event 70 
years ago and the subsequent organized murder of more than 6 million 
Jews across Europe during World War II, we realize how important it is 
that we remember the lessons of the 20th century today at the start of 
the 21st century.
  I urge strong adoption of this important resolution, and I reserve 
the balance of our time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, we have no further speakers at 
this time.
  However, let me conclude by simply stating that Adolf Hitler and the 
Nazis perpetrated the most heinous tragedy of man's inhumanity to man. 
We will never forget it, and people all across this Nation on this 70th 
anniversary say never, never again.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I echo the sentiments of my good 
friend, and I yield back the balance of our time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1435.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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