Hoyer Statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which also marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau:

“Today, as we mark the tenth International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I join in remembering and honoring the six million Jews and millions of others who were victims of Nazi genocide.  Seventy years after it was liberated, Auschwitz-Birkenau remains a powerful symbol of humanity’s darkest moment, a place where systematic murder of innocents was committed on an unfathomable scale. 

“Ten years ago today, I joined my friend and colleague, the late Rep. Tom Lantos, on the House Floor to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s liberation.  At the time, we spoke about the importance of keeping alive the memory of those who perished at the hands of the Nazis and honoring the courage and determination of those who survived, as Tom had.  He is no longer with us, and – seven decades after the end of World War II – each year there are fewer survivors who can show us a tattooed number or speak firsthand about the horrors they endured. 

“Tom Lantos once expressed his worry that ‘the memories of mankind are all too short, and new generations have been born who cannot remember, and unfortunately have not been taught, about these horrors.’  As the next generation grows up, it is up to us to teach them the important lessons of the Shoah – and to make it our enduring mission to prevent genocide by confronting intolerance and anti-Semitism wherever they appear.”