[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 16 (Monday, April 23, 2001)]
[Pages 629-630]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

April 18, 2001

    Thank you very much. This is a hallowed place. Please behave 
yourself.
    It's an honor for us to be here. Laura and I have just come from a 
fantastic tour. I want to thank Rabbi Greenberg for his hospitality, and 
Ruth Mandel for her hospitality, and the Director, Sara Bloomfield, for 
giving us such a special evening. Thank you all very much for your 
graciousness, and I want to thank you all very much for coming. And it's 
an honor for me to be here with members of my White House staff, friends 
of mine from all around the country.
    This isn't like any other museum. It bears witness to the best and 
to the worst of the human heart. The images here stay with you, and only 
by confronting them can we begin

[[Page 630]]

to grasp the full enormity of the Holocaust. I urge Americans planning a 
visit to Washington to come here, themselves, and see what we have just 
seen.
    History records many atrocities before and after the 1930s and 
1940s. But it was the Holocaust that forced us to find a new term for 
horrors on such a scale--a crime against humanity. Human evil has never 
been so ambitious in scope, so systematic in execution, and so 
deliberate in its destruction.
    In places like this, the evidence has been kept. Without it, we 
might forget the past, and we might neglect the future. And we must 
never forget. We must always remember both the cruelty of the guilty and 
the courage and innocence of their victims.
    So many stories from the concentration camps will never be told 
because many of the witnesses did not survive. The stories we have must 
be preserved forever: Stories of mothers sacrificing themselves to save 
their children; stories of children trying to shield their parents; 
stories of men and women praying and comforting one another in the last 
moments on this Earth. These tell the greater truth of the Holocaust: 
The evil is real, but hope endures.
    Above all, this museum is a testament to hope. Tomorrow I will have 
the honor of joining in the Days of Remembrance observances at the 
Capitol. I will convey America's commitment to the memory of 6 million 
who died in the Holocaust, our commitment to averting future tragedies, 
and our commitment to a friend, as a friend, to the Jewish people--to 
their cause and to the nation they built.
    I hope to see many of you at the Capitol tomorrow.
    Thank you all for coming, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 8:50 p.m. in the Hall of Witness. In his 
remarks, he referred to Rabbi Irving Greenberg, chair, and Ruth B. 
Mandel, vice chair, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council; and Sara J. 
Bloomfield, director, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.