Recognizing Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day

RECOGNIZING YOM HASHOAH, HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY -- (Extensions of Remarks - April 27, 2006)

* Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join with my colleagues and with my constituents in solemn recognition of Yom Hashoah, a special day on which we mourn the millions of Jews who perished at the hands of Nazi Germany and remember the horrific tragedy of the Holocaust.

* This day commemorates the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, in April of 1943, and the selfless bravery of hundreds of everyday men and women who fought courageously against a troop of thousands of Nazi soldiers. This day fomented the resistance movement in ghettos throughout Europe, and it is the inspiration for the National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance each year in the United States.

* This day has special significance for Jews, the main target of Nazi atrocities. I have many constituents who are Holocaust survivors, and many more who lost friends, relatives and loved ones. We mourn their loss, and honor their memory and the memory of the 6 million Jews whose lives were so cruelly, wantonly and prematurely ended. We will never forget them, and what happened to them.

* At the same time, we must recognize that the same forces that brought about the Holocaust continue to exist in the world today. We have seen it in Kosovo and Rwanda, we continue to see it in Darfur. Let us therefore honor the innocent victims by recommitting ourselves to fighting ignorance, bigotry, hatred and, perhaps most important, ``inaction by people of good will.''

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