Hoyer Statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Press Types
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
January 26, 2018
Contact Info:
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today regarding International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is recognized tomorrow, January 27th:
“In remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Holocaust, people throughout the world will pause and reflect tomorrow on the darkest period in human history and how it came to be. At a time when fewer survivors are here to share their stories with us firsthand, we must continue working to preserve their accounts of the Nazi regime’s effort to erase Jews, Poles, Roma, LGBT people, and others from the face of the Earth. We must also learn from the lessons they have taught us about how the Nazis manipulated millions and usurped a democracy through far-right nationalism and xenophobia, scapegoating and fear-mongering.
“Last year, Jews across America, including many survivors and their descendants, were deeply hurt and outraged by the President’s failure to mention the 6 million Jewish victims of Nazism in his statement marking this observance. His failure to do so, along with his decision not to use the occasion to address the dangerous rise in anti-Semitism around the world and right here in our country, was made all the more disturbing by his continued embrace of white-supremacist and neo-Nazi elements of the far-right. When President Trump refused to condemn those in Charlottesville in August who chanted Nazi slogans and carried swastikas through the streets of an American city, it emboldened individuals and groups who deny the Holocaust or, perversely, celebrate it.
“There can be no room for denial or ignorance. Neither can we allow indifference to human suffering or the history of genocide targeting Jews and other groups to turn our heads away from the dangers of intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia in our midst. Let us use this day of remembrance to recommit ourselves as individuals and as a society to the work of banishing hatred from the Earth once and for all – work that begins right here at home.”
“In remembrance of the 11 million victims of the Holocaust, people throughout the world will pause and reflect tomorrow on the darkest period in human history and how it came to be. At a time when fewer survivors are here to share their stories with us firsthand, we must continue working to preserve their accounts of the Nazi regime’s effort to erase Jews, Poles, Roma, LGBT people, and others from the face of the Earth. We must also learn from the lessons they have taught us about how the Nazis manipulated millions and usurped a democracy through far-right nationalism and xenophobia, scapegoating and fear-mongering.
“Last year, Jews across America, including many survivors and their descendants, were deeply hurt and outraged by the President’s failure to mention the 6 million Jewish victims of Nazism in his statement marking this observance. His failure to do so, along with his decision not to use the occasion to address the dangerous rise in anti-Semitism around the world and right here in our country, was made all the more disturbing by his continued embrace of white-supremacist and neo-Nazi elements of the far-right. When President Trump refused to condemn those in Charlottesville in August who chanted Nazi slogans and carried swastikas through the streets of an American city, it emboldened individuals and groups who deny the Holocaust or, perversely, celebrate it.
“There can be no room for denial or ignorance. Neither can we allow indifference to human suffering or the history of genocide targeting Jews and other groups to turn our heads away from the dangers of intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia in our midst. Let us use this day of remembrance to recommit ourselves as individuals and as a society to the work of banishing hatred from the Earth once and for all – work that begins right here at home.”