Honoring Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I rise today for the solemn purpose of commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I just returned from an overseas visit with SENATORS LEVIN and COLLINS to examine missile defense issues in Russia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. In Poland, I visited the Warsaw Ghetto memorials, one of which was built on the location where the Jews were transported to the death camp at Treblinka, beginning in July 1942. I was moved by visiting that place. We saw another monument built to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The death camps would not be liberated until 1945, but we remember this courageous struggle against overwhelming odds.

In America and throughout the world, Jews are observing this day in synagogues, reciting prayers. Young people listen to the testimonies of survivors who witnessed and were victims of the worst crimes committed by humankind, so that the Holocaust is not forgotten by future generations.

Florida has the largest number of Holocaust survivors in the entire country. These survivors remind us that the Holocaust was a tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions.

Today we remember those who lost their lives, not because of any crime they committed, but simply because of their faith and their heritage. And, though Jews were indeed the primary victims, we also remember the others who suffered persecution and were murdered by the Nazis: Gypsies and Poles, Jehovah's Witnesses, the handicapped, gays, political dissidents and Soviet prisoners of war.

In addition to marking this day, we in Congress are doing what we can to ensure that we never forget what happened during the Holocaust and that it never happens again.

Earlier this year, two of my distinguished colleagues, Senators Collins and Cardin, introduced an important resolution that I cosponsored, which condemns anti-Semitism in all its forms.

In respect for the victims of the Holocaust and surviving relatives, I will introduce a resolution on restitution or compensation for property and other assets seized by the Nazi and Communist regimes in postwar Europe, in anticipation of the International Conference on Holocaust Assets that will be held in Prague at the end of June. This conference is a followup to the International Conference that was held 10 years ago in Washington, which established the framework compensation programs that were established throughout western Europe during the past decade.

I would point out that we still must determine how to address the cases of the remaining Holocaust victims who have yet to be compensated for the unpaid value of insurance policies they held before the war. I would support legislation that actually helps survivors to obtain just compensation and avoid dragging out compensation efforts or giving false hope to survivors.

I will also be introducing the World War II War Crimes Accountability Act to encourage foreign governments to prosecute and extradite wanted criminals, and to bring them to justice.

Despite the efforts of the U.S. Government, particularly the Department of Justice, and of groups such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a number of perpetrators of crimes against humanity remain at large. What is worse, we know exactly where some of the individuals are living, but the countries where they reside refuse to extradite them to face justice.

We are in a race against time. Each year, more Holocaust survivors are laid to rest. Let us work together quickly to let them see a measure of justice done in their lifetime.

Finally, our Government has made solemn commitments in the past that the horror of the Holocaust will never be repeated. And yet we are all well aware of the grim stories of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the mass murder of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, and now the ongoing genocide in Darfur. America as a nation must be a leader on the world stage to prevent genocide.

I urge President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and UN Ambassador Rice to continue the battle against ignorance, intolerance, and instability that seem to contribute to genocide, and to confront those governments that engage in genocide. And America must make every effort to ensure that those who commit these horrific crimes face justice.

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