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Great Neck Record, NY
May 12, 2005
Statement by U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman: Holocaust Memorial Day
"Mr. Speaker, today is Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and I
rise to honor the memory of the six million Jewish souls extinguished
in the greatest act of organized depravity in history.
"There have been many barbaric regimes and there have been many other
vicious campaigns of annihilation undertaken both before and after
the Holocaust. Some even produced more victims. The Shoah, however,
is unique and is thus deserving of special attention, not because the
victims were Jews-many millions of innocent non-Jews were murdered by
the Nazis-but because the Holocaust revealed a painful and abiding
truth about humanity that remains with us. In the squalor of the
camps, in the ashes of the crematoria, and in the fires of the ovens,
it was demonstrated that the norms of civilization, the boundaries of
morality, and the protections of society and government are no more
protection than a fragile tissue of behavior, one torn aside with
shocking ease to reveal the latent bestiality in human beings.
"The imperative of Holocaust for us today, as legislators and
participants in American government is the same for all Americans
and, in truth, all humanity. That imperative is to remember. There
are many reasons why: To remember all those people murdered for the
crime of their birth and rededicate ourselves to preventing such a
crime from being repeated. To remember that bigotry and ignorance can
metastasize in politics with horrific consequences. To remember that
whole communities can be wiped out with the power of the modern state
and to recommit ourselves to the protection of the weak and
powerless. To remember all those men and women and children who were
cremated and dumped into mass graves, not just to end their lives,
but to deny their very existence.
"But most of all we must remember because it can happen again.
It is happening again. It is happening in Sudan right now, today.
Some 400,000 Sudanese have already been killed and, if today is a
typical day, 500 more will join them as the world wrings its hands
and wonders what to do. This lassitude, this fecklessness, this
disgraceful toleration of genocide is nothing new either. We saw it
when there was slaughter in Southeast Europe. And we saw it as a
genocide was perpetrated with machetes in Rwanda. And even before the
Holocaust, it happened to the Armenians and today we debate whether
it ever happened at all.
"We must remember the Holocaust because genocide is real. It is not
history, it is reality.
"Today, genocide is a reality in Sudan. Tomorrow, when Iran acquires
nuclear weapons, will we see the mullahs attempt to finish Hitler's
barbaric work? Impossible? Incomprehensible? Sophisticated people
will ask, "Who would harness the power of a modern state to the
absurd goal of killings Jews? Who would risk their state over it?'
"We must remember. A world that doesn't keep Auschwitz fixed in its
mind will see it rebuilt. We must remember."
May 12, 2005
Statement by U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman: Holocaust Memorial Day
"Mr. Speaker, today is Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and I
rise to honor the memory of the six million Jewish souls extinguished
in the greatest act of organized depravity in history.
"There have been many barbaric regimes and there have been many other
vicious campaigns of annihilation undertaken both before and after
the Holocaust. Some even produced more victims. The Shoah, however,
is unique and is thus deserving of special attention, not because the
victims were Jews-many millions of innocent non-Jews were murdered by
the Nazis-but because the Holocaust revealed a painful and abiding
truth about humanity that remains with us. In the squalor of the
camps, in the ashes of the crematoria, and in the fires of the ovens,
it was demonstrated that the norms of civilization, the boundaries of
morality, and the protections of society and government are no more
protection than a fragile tissue of behavior, one torn aside with
shocking ease to reveal the latent bestiality in human beings.
"The imperative of Holocaust for us today, as legislators and
participants in American government is the same for all Americans
and, in truth, all humanity. That imperative is to remember. There
are many reasons why: To remember all those people murdered for the
crime of their birth and rededicate ourselves to preventing such a
crime from being repeated. To remember that bigotry and ignorance can
metastasize in politics with horrific consequences. To remember that
whole communities can be wiped out with the power of the modern state
and to recommit ourselves to the protection of the weak and
powerless. To remember all those men and women and children who were
cremated and dumped into mass graves, not just to end their lives,
but to deny their very existence.
"But most of all we must remember because it can happen again.
It is happening again. It is happening in Sudan right now, today.
Some 400,000 Sudanese have already been killed and, if today is a
typical day, 500 more will join them as the world wrings its hands
and wonders what to do. This lassitude, this fecklessness, this
disgraceful toleration of genocide is nothing new either. We saw it
when there was slaughter in Southeast Europe. And we saw it as a
genocide was perpetrated with machetes in Rwanda. And even before the
Holocaust, it happened to the Armenians and today we debate whether
it ever happened at all.
"We must remember the Holocaust because genocide is real. It is not
history, it is reality.
"Today, genocide is a reality in Sudan. Tomorrow, when Iran acquires
nuclear weapons, will we see the mullahs attempt to finish Hitler's
barbaric work? Impossible? Incomprehensible? Sophisticated people
will ask, "Who would harness the power of a modern state to the
absurd goal of killings Jews? Who would risk their state over it?'
"We must remember. A world that doesn't keep Auschwitz fixed in its
mind will see it rebuilt. We must remember."