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Commending Countries and Organizations for Marking 60th Anniversary of Liberation of Auschwitz

Date: Jan. 25, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Liberal

COMMENDING COUNTRIES AND ORGANIZATIONS FOR MARKING 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ -- (House of Representatives - January 25, 2005)

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Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this important resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and call on my colleagues to join me in honoring the memory of the Holocaust victims and to pay tribute to the Allied soldiers who fought and sacrificed for the cause of freedom.

This resolution draws from the lessons of history by calling for the strengthening of the fight against racism, intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, discrimination, and anti-Semitism.

I would like to commend the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. HYDE, and the gentleman from California, Mr. LANTOS, for bringing this measure to the Floor at this time.

When we talk of the Holocaust, we speak of a grim and unprecedented period in human history--a unique atrocity, distinct from any other. The mass murders that were inflicted upon the Jewish people and scores of other victims must never be forgotten.

Similarly, we must remember the compassion of the many brave men and women who risked their lives to rescue and shelter Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi reign of terror. The incidents of countless non-Jews who risked their lives to protect people of another faith were as real as the Nazi death camps themselves.

As Europe and the Middle East experience a dramatic rise in the frequency and intensity of anti-Semitic acts, it is imperative that we educate and remind the new and future generations about the atrocities committed at Auschwitz and other camps against an innocent people.

Only a concerted, multi-faceted approach to combating this virulent hatred will effectively silence it. Anti-Semitism, intolerance, and bigotry must be answered and fought with all the means at our disposal, so that the horrors of Auschwitz are never again repeated.

We must continue to tell the story, for we owe something to those who perished at the hands of the Nazis. As Elie Wiesel has warned: ``..... anyone who does not remember betrays them again.''

I urge my colleagues to render their overwhelming support to this resolution and to the noble cause of eradicating prejudice and hatred throughout the world.

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