16052 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS July 13, 1982 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE 1982 done to our people, but also what it has anyone can say about millions of people done to itself. being put to death must be inadequate. But The last years, however, have seen a dra­ there is also a sense that something must be HON. BILL GREEN matic change. It was perhaps the United said in the name of the past and the future. OF NEW YORK States Congress among others who helped We must testify to the Holocaust in order to IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES to bring about that change by passing reaffirm our insistent belief in the sacred­ Tuesday, July 13, 1982 Public Law 96-388 that provides for appro­ ness of human life and in the strength of priate ways for this Nation to commemorate values. e Mr. GREEN. Mr. Speaker, on April the Days of Remembrance. We are grateful The Holocaust stands as a unique event in 20, 1982, an assembly was held in the to you, especially now. the unique history of the Jewish people. It Capitol rotunda as part of the "Days In a period when survivors are getting also stands as an event as an event in the of Remembrance," commemorating older and the prospect of the last survivor history of modem man-who can tum civili­ looms before us, and being conscious of the zation into a weapon for its own destruction. the victims of the Holocaust. This fact that it will not be long before the only annual ceremony reminds us that We mourn the destruction of Eastern Eu­ evidence left of the tragedy that befell our ropean Jewry-as a people and as a culture human life is to be treasured, not de­ people will be books, museums, and our tes­ of learning and piety. We also mourn man, stroyed. I would like to take this op­ timonies, it is reassuring that by an act of who is capable of destroying others and all portunity to share with my colleagues Congress the Days of Remembrance are and that gives life a meaning. the very moving remarks delivered on will be, in the years to come, commemorated All of us who cherish the sanctity and dig­ this occasion. in state capitals, in cities, and in towns nity of human life and the grandeur of a across the country and in the Nation's cap­ people's culture, must recall the souls of REMARKS BY MARK TALISMAN, COCHAIRMAN, ital. U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL The Acts of Congress make it possible to those whose lives were so cruelly destroyed. In this hallowed hall of freedom and de­ bring to the wide attention of the American We must commit ourselves to maintaining mocracy, we gather for this Nation to re­ public, not only what happened to the six their culture, so that our lives may be en­ member, never to forget. As our Chairman, millon Jews and millions of others, but how riched and their memory cherished. Elie Wiesel, has said, "What we all have in it happened, and, even more important, why It is my privilege to welcome all of you to common is an obsession not to betray the it happened. this magnificent room in formal recognition dead, the dead we left behind or who left us It was, on the one hand, the indifference of our national commitment to see a behind. They were killed once, they must of the western world to the burning of syna­ museum and a living memorial to all victims not be killed again through forgetfulness." gogues and mistreatment of the Jewish of the Holocaust established. The Acts of You, the Members of the House of Repre­ people before the war and the collapse of Congress which created the Council and the sentatives and of the United States Senate the Evian Refugee Conference that Hitler Joint Resolution which enabled this cere­ have forever committed this Nation to this interpreted as a sign of weakness or tacit aP­ mony to take place are steps which this remembrance, and, through this act, to the proval by the rest of the world of his acts. Congress has unanimously taken, in fur­ future, never again to be stained with the On the other hand, let's not forget that therance of the commitment. We look for­ infamy of what has been committed in the the rest of the Christian world, with some ward to the Holocaust Museum and Memo­ name of law and statecraft. Unanimously, exceptions, bears the same responsibility. rial which will be among this Nation's most you, the United States Congress assembled, The choice of Jews as victims stemmed vital contributions to the ennoblement of have and will continue to demonstrate that either directly or indirectly from the church the human spirit. humankind must never again respond to the treatment of Jews and it's liturgy and theol­ The Holocaust challenges us to mourn basest instinct under the guise of legislative ogy. The tragedy can only be understood if each individual who was reduced to ashes­ and administrative process. Your children related to the ethical, philosophical, and as individuals, not as the numbers which and theirs, our Nation, can now follow in theological traditions of western civilization. the Nazis tried to make them. The Holo­ the footprints you have indelibly etched in From Professor Elie Wiesel, the Chairman caust declares the necessity everyWhere and the soul of this great Nation. Memory is of the Council, we have learned that we are always to defend each human life and to now law. responsible for one another and that that uphold its sanctity. On behalf of the Council, I would like to responsibility is not limited to the past but We must learn from the past, not only to commend this Administration for its investi­ to the future as well. The future is hidden remember, as the Bible suggests, "to destroy gation and prosecution of Nazi war crimi­ in the past. We have a sacred duty to bring the spirit of evil," but also to envision a time nals who have been living in this country, the events of the past to bear on the present to come when, as the Prophet Isaiah says: and this Congress for its support of this for the sake of the future. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My critical effort. The Office of Special Investi­ In conclusion, let me express, on behalf of Holy Mountain." gations of the Department of Justice has the Days of Remembrance Committee, my Thank you. undertaken exceptional work in spearhead­ deep appreciation for inviting us to conduct ing the prosecution of these war criminals this year's national ceremony in the Rotun­ We gather today in remembrance of the against humanity. da. And at the same time, point out that not six million Jews and others who died in the only did the Congress unanimously support Holocaust-a catastrophic event unparel­ REMARKS BY SIGMUND STROCHLITZ, CHAIR· the establishment of the Council and all it's leled in the course of human history. Six MAN, DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE, U.S. HOLO· functions, but, for the first time in the his­ million Jews went to their deaths in ovens CAUST MEMORIAL COUNCIL tory of that nation, a survivor, Thomas and gas chambers or were worked to death Mr. Speaker, Senate Majority Whip, Lantos. a child of a survivor, Sam Gejden­ in the concentration camps scattered Chairman of the United States Holocaust son, and one who escaped at the last throughout Eastern Europe. Two out of Memorial Council and distinguished guests. moment from Nazi Germany, Senator Rudy every three European Jews died-one-third I am greatly honored and also humbled to Boschwitz, are members of that Congress. of the World's Jewish population. Those stand here today in the presence of those We are all very proud of them. camps were so unimaginable gruesome that who have been elected to guide the destinies To everyone present, thank you for join­ even children and grandchildren of those of our Nation and recall the memory of the ing our annual commemoration. Your pres­ who survived bear psychological scars. six million Jews and millions of others who ence lends honor to this historic occasion. Those who survived live not only with the perished in the Holocaust. physical and psychological scars, but with The memory of the Holocaust was kept REMARKS BY THE HONORABLE THOMAS P . the fear that it could happen again. The alive for a long time by some scholars who O'NEILL, JR., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF Jewish faith stresses remembrance-zakhor. sensed that the Holocaust was not mere his­ ltEPP.ESENTATIVES Jews are admonished in the Torah to "re­ tory indeed, it may have had great implica­ Chairman Wiesel, Senator Stevens, Coun­ member Amalek" and along with Amalek, tion for the future. And, of course, by survi­ cil Members and Friends. Haman, Titus and others who plotted the vors who were not only pointing out what a Speaking about the Holocaust is always destruction of the Jewish people through­ vicious or, at best, indifferent world has difficult. There is a sense that anything out the ages. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. July 13, 1982 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 16053 We remember the Holocaust today to ask ourselves the questions, Why Ausch­ why, I am afraid to know why. According to demand that history not repeat itself. All witz? Why Majdanek? How is one to explain the eyewitness, insane with grief, she began generations must know of those horrors.