WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – Separate resolutions commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz have been introduced in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Statements have been made as well by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin, Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-Maryland.) and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) on Tuesday, Jan. 27, introducing a bipartisan resolution, made these comments:
“The crimes perpetrated by the Nazis at Auschwitz and other camps across Europe were some of the worst human rights violations the world has ever seen. This resolution honors the memories of those who perished among the nearly unimaginable horrors of Auschwitz, as well as the survivors who embody the resiliency and strength of the human spirit,” said Senator Cardin. “A generation after the end of the Holocaust there are still Survivors among us. I was proud to secure funding to help meet the needs of such a vulnerable population in the Omnibus bill passed at the end of the 113th Congress. I will continue to work to make sure that the Holocaust is never forgotten and the dwindling number of survivors continue to be cared for.”
“[The liberation of Auschwitz] was a triumph for our allies, but a melancholy day as the world began to see the films and photographs come out of this hell hole. As someone who is very proud of her Polish-American heritage, I visited Auschwitz. I wanted to see it when I had the chance to learn more about my own heritage. I wanted to see what happened there so that I would remember. And I rise today so that the world remembers what happened there, and the heroic effort of the Allied forces who joined together to save Europe and save Western civilization,” Senator Mikulski said.
“For the people who fought in the underground. For people who fought in the resistance. For people who participated in the famous uprisings. To thank God also for the other fighters, the ones who in the camp gave whatever they could to keep other camp prisoners going. And for the Allied troops, led by the United States of America. That when we stood together, we stood and stared evil down. And when we opened up the doors of Auschwitz, for freedom and the ability of the few to survive, it was indeed a historic moment.”
“The liberation of Auschwitz saved thousands of lives and marked the end of one of the darkest chapters in human history,” Senator Kirk said. “My own visit to Auschwitz, where over 1.1 million innocent men, women and children perished, strengthened my dedication to making sure the United States always prioritizes the promotion of human rights and dignity around the world.”
The Auschwitz extermination camp is one of the starkest symbols of the brutality of the Holocaust. Nearly 1.3 million innocent civilians, including Jews, Poles and other minorities, were deported to Auschwitz, and 1.1 million of these innocents were murdered. While there, the imprisoned were subjected to torture, starvation, rape and medical experiments. They were forced to carry out hard labor in inhumane conditions. Many were torn from their families upon arrival, never to be united again.
As Soviet forces approached Auschwitz in January 1945, the SS force marched nearly 60,000 prisoners from the Auschwitz camp system. More than 15,000 died during the death marches to Wodzislaw in Upper Silesia. On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 prisoners who remained.
The text of the resolution follows:
Whereas on January 27, 1945, the Auschwitz extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland was liberated by Allied Forces during World War II after almost 5 years of murder, rape, and torture at the camp;
Whereas 1,100,000 innocent civilians were murdered at the Auschwitz extermination camp;
Whereas nearly 1,300,000 innocent civilians were deported to Auschwitz from their homes across Eastern and Western Europe, particularly from Hungary, Poland, and France;
Whereas 1,000,000 of the civilians who perished at the camp were Jews, along with 100,000 non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Sinti individuals, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men and women, and other ethnic minorities;
Whereas these civilians included farmers, tailors, seamstresses, factory hands, accountants, doctors, teachers, small-business owners, clergy, intellectuals, government officials, and political activists;
Whereas these civilians were subjected to torture, forced labor, starvation, rape, medical experiments, and being separated from loved ones;
Whereas the names of many of these civilians who perished have been lost forever;
Whereas the Auschwitz extermination camp symbolizes the extraordinary brutality of the Holocaust;
Whereas the people of the United States must never forget the terrible crimes against humanity committed at the Auschwitz extermination camp;
Whereas the people of the United States must educate future generations to promote understanding of the dangers of intolerance in order to prevent similar injustices from happening again; and
Whereas commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp will instill in all people of the United States a greater awareness of the Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate—
(1) commemorates January 27, 2015, as the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp by Allied Forces during World War II;
(2) calls on all people of the United States to remember the 1,100,000 innocent victims murdered at the Auschwitz extermination camp as part of the Holocaust;
(3) honors the legacy of the survivors of the Holocaust and of the Auschwitz extermination camp; and
(4) calls on the people of the United States to continue to work toward tolerance, peace, and justice and to end all genocide and persecution.
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President Barack Obama, through his White House press office, issued this statement:
On the tenth International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the American people pay tribute to the six million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime. We also honor those who survived the Shoah, while recognizing the scars and burdens that many have carried ever since.
Honoring the victims and survivors begins with our renewed recognition of the value and dignity of each person. It demands from us the courage to protect the persecuted and speak out against bigotry and hatred. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris serve as a painful reminder of our obligation to condemn and combat rising anti-Semitism in all its forms, including the denial or trivialization of the Holocaust.
This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made confronting this terrible chapter in human history and on our continuing efforts to end genocide. I have sent a Presidential delegation to join Polish President Komorowski, the Polish people, official delegations from scores of nations, and many survivors, at today’s official commemoration in Poland.
As a founding member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the United States joins the Alliance’s thirty other member nations and partners in reiterating its solemn responsibility to uphold the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration. We commemorate all of the victims of the Holocaust, pledging never to forget, and recalling the cautionary words of the author and survivor of Auschwitz Primo Levi, “It happened, therefore it can happen again. . . . It can happen anywhere.” Today we come together and commit, to the millions of murdered souls and all survivors, that it must never happen again.
Meanwhile, at the U.S. State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki read the following statement:
“Today, we also mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 by the Soviet Army. As we face a global rise in anti-Semitism, it is more important than ever to remember these terrible death camps the Nazis created in order to wipe an entire race of people – men, women, and children – from the face of the Earth. They systematically swept up not only Jews, but millions of other innocents because of race, sexual orientation, disability, or political beliefs. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United States joins many others in paying tribute to the millions of victims who lost their lives under the Nazi regime. We also honor those who survived but still carry its lasting scars and burdens. We owe it to these people to never forget what can happen when hatred is allowed to flourish unchecked.”
Later, Secretary of State John Kerry issued this statement:
Today, Teresa and I join all Americans in marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and in honoring the memory of all the victims of the Holocaust.
We bow our heads in remembrance of the six million Jews and the millions more murdered by the Nazis – including Poles, Roma, LGBT people, persons with disabilities. I do so with the added weight of knowing more than I ever have before about the losses my grandfather’s family suffered in the Holocaust, a history my brother Cam passionately helped unearth in his own visit to the Czech Republic. Whether our own families have personal connections to these horrors or not, none of us should ever forget that behind each of the victims was not a number, but a name and the story of a life cut short, a future not realized, a family bereft, and an irredeemable loss of talent and love.
We owe it to each of them to keep their stories alive so the world will never again tolerate such evil. We keep faith with the survivors who emerged from the cauldron of Holocaust and war to build institutions and order dedicated to the principle that never again should crimes of such horror and magnitude be committed on this Earth.
Edward R. Murrow referred to the Holocaust as “a horror beyond what imagination can grasp.” And yet the reality is that the Shoah was not only imagined, it was carried out by one group against another. In founding the United Nations, President Truman reminded us that “it is easier to remove tyrants and destroy concentration camps than it is to kill the ideas which gave them birth and strength.”
Today, none of us can be satisfied that the lessons of the Holocaust have been adequately learned. Anti-Semitism is again on the rise, and hate is still the dominant force in too many hearts. Too many people still suffer not because of anything they have done, but simply because of who they are.
That is why today is more than a time for reflection. The duty we have is an active one: to confront and defend against those who attack others on the basis of race or religion; unite against anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry and sectarian hate; insist on the rule of law in relations among states and between people; and reaffirm our commitment to the fundamental rights and dignity of every human being.
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In the House of Representatives, a resolution was offered by U.S. Reps Ted Deutch and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida; Nita Lowey, Eliot Engel and Steve israel of New York; Chris Smith of of New Jersey, and Peter Roskam of Illinois.
The House Resolution read as follows:
Whereas more than 60 percent of the Jewish population in Europe before World War II was murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators;
Whereas the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, which included a killing center at Birkenau, was the largest
camp complex established by the Nazi regime;
Whereas, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, at least 1,300,000 people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945, of whom 1,100,000 were murdered;
Whereas at least 960,000 of the 1,100,000 murdered people were Jewish;
Whereas the Nazi SS also deported to Auschwitz hundreds of thousands of people whom the German Security Police deemed to be inferior, dangerous, or undesirable, including Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, Poles, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, Afro-Germans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and other groups;
Whereas the Nazis murdered their victims by systematically using such methods as mass executions, hanging, gas
chambers, starvation, and torture, by subjecting them to forced labor and unethical medical experimentation, and
by denying them even the most basic medical treatment for disease or infection;
Whereas on January 27, 1945, the Nazi concentration camp complex at Auschwitz, including Birkenau, was liberated by the Soviet army;
Whereas on November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 60/7, which designated January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, as annual International Day of Commemoration, and
which called on the world to remember the Holocaust and honor the victims of the Holocaust era;
Whereas many countries around the world mark respective national Holocaust remembrance days on January 27, including Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom;
Whereas there has been an increase in the number and intensity of anti-Semitic incidents around the world, and Jewish communities are feeling vulnerable in the face of growing anti-Jewish hostility and experiencing targeted,
and sometimes deadly, attacks; and
Whereas the United States Department of State expressed its concern for the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe and
around the world and referenced numerous polls offering evidence to the claims: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) memorializes the liberation of Auschwitz;
(2) honors the victims of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps and killing centers, and all other victims of Nazi crimes and aggression;
(3) honors the efforts of the United States Armed Forces, the armed forces of Allied nations, underground resistance fighters, and other persons who helped defeat the Nazi regime during World War II and liberate Auschwitz and other Nazi camps;
(4) expresses gratitude to those persons and entities hosting and participating in events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, which includes a United States presidential delegation attending an event in Oswiecim,Poland;
(5) reaffirms its support for educational efforts to teach current and future generations about the Holocaust, to preserve the memory of those murdered, and to prevent any future genocide; and
(6) urges all countries to implement educational lessons about the Holocaust to explain how unchecked intolerance and prejudice, including racial, ethnic, or religious biases, has led to, and could in the future lead to, atrocities as happened during the Holocaust, and to improve efforts to identify and combat anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry and intolerance.
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