Hoyer Statement in Observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Statement

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today in observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

"Seventy-seven years ago today, Allied forces liberated the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and exposed to the eyes of the world the worst of humanity's capacity for evil. In Auschwitz and other Nazi factories of death, in squalid ghettos across occupied Europe and North Africa, and through the use of coordinated killing squads and death marches, 6 million Jews and 5 million others were systematically murdered. As we observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day together this year, let us mourn and honor its victims while also paying heed to its lessons, which are resonant today as we face a renewed onslaught of antisemitism and far-right extremism.

"The hostage incident at a Texas synagogue earlier this month underscores the reality that antisemitism is alive and dangerous today. In Pittsburgh in 2018, Americans watched in horror as a far-right extremist translated seething antisemitism and racial anger against Jews and other minorities into a murderous act that took eleven innocent lives. I have heard from so many friends in the Jewish community about growing fears of attacks on synagogues, community centers, schools, and other communal institutions -- and about individuals worried about walking the streets of their own cities for fear of assault. When we saw pictures of insurrectionists wearing "Camp Auschwitz' apparel during the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year, it became even more clear that the lessons of the Holocaust are not being learned widely enough, and we must ensure that this changes.

"That's why I've been proud to support legislation expanding Holocaust education, including by bringing Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney's measure to the Floor and working to enact it into law in 2020. It's also why I've worked to call out antisemitism in our politics, which is never appropriate -- just as antisemitism and other forms of racism and bigotry are never appropriate in American society. This includes treatment of Israel with a double standard and the application of many of history's worst antisemitic tropes to the world's only Jewish state.

"The burden to combat and eliminate antisemitism falls to all of us as Americans; we must not allow this evil any space to fester in our midst. Together, we must stand up against antisemitism and ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust do not fall on deaf ears here at home and around the world."

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