Moments in Time That Impact the Rest of Time
Floor Speech
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Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise.
Today, I would like to thank the Speaker of the House, Speaker McCarthy, and the leadership on the Republican side as well as Minority Leader Jeffries and the leadership on the Democratic side for affording me this opportunity to be heard.
And still I rise, Mr. Speaker, and I rise today because there are moments in time that impact the rest of time. January 27 of 1945 was such a time.
January 27, 1945: It is said there are days that will live in infamy. This has to be at the top of the list of such days because today we will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day because of an event that took place on January 27, 1945.
Please allow me to share with you, Mr. Speaker, some information that I have from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners who were mostly ill and dying. It is estimated, Mr. Speaker, that at minimum, 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. Of these, at least 1.1 million people were murdered.
One person who survived--whose name I shall not reveal but is available to me for those who might want to make a further inquiry-- indicated: ``So I was hiding out in the heap of dead bodies because in the last week when the crematoria didn't function at all, the bodies were just building up higher and higher.''
Another person indicated: ``And they said, `From now on you do not answer by your name. Your name is your number.' And the delusion, the disappointment, the discouragement that I felt, I felt like I was not a human person anymore.''
This is what happened to people at Auschwitz--human beings being reduced to numbers and sentenced to death, innocent people.
Another article from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust in the U.K. indicates:
27 January 1945, liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
On 27 January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz- Birkenau the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp.
Mr. Speaker, many people focus on the concentration aspect of what happened there, and we should. But the horrific occurrence included extermination. This means in everyday language the murder of innocent people.
This article goes on to indicate:
``When Soviet soldiers arrived, they found several thousand emaciated survivors and the smoldering remains of gas chambers and crematoria after the Nazis had attempted to destroy evidence of their crimes.''
An article from ``This Day in History'' on history.com indicates, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz is liberated.
``On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps--and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
``Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller `satellite' camps.''
This was a commercial operation, as it were, wherein there was a systemic means by which persons were being put to death. These are my words.
Continuing with the words from the article:
``It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941, that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground: 300 prison barracks; 4 `bathhouses' in which prisoners were gassed; corpse cellars; and cremating ovens.''
Stepping aside for a moment, it seems that it is difficult for some people to believe what actually occurred. It is so horrific that some human minds refuse to accept what occurred.
Now, there may be others who for reasons associated with malice aforethought have just decided they won't agree. But there are many people who just cannot, with their human mind, conceive of such a thing happening.
I want to comment on something that I saw this morning on television and compliment Joe of ``Morning Joe.'' He went to Auschwitz, and he was reporting from Auschwitz. I compliment him because, too often, we don't allow the actual place where these things occurred, the venue, to be properly exposed to the public. I thank him for going there because he has inspired me to believe that this is a place that I have to add to my bucket list. I want to go and see for myself the facility that facilitated, with the hands of evil persons, the murder of millions of people. I want to see what actually happened in those facilities, actually see the facilities where these horrors occurred: 300 prison barracks, 4 bathhouses in which prisoners were gassed.
``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments.''
I have been to Yad Vashem in Israel. It breaks your heart. For many people, it is impossible to go there and not have tears well in your eyes. It is impossible to see the depictions of persons who were used as human guinea pigs, experimented on. It is impossible to see the horrors depicted and not leave feeling the sorrow and the hurt and the pain associated with knowing that human beings were tortured and experimented upon.
Continuing on: ``Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, the `angel of death.' . . . In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, SS officers began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners'' in their efforts to destroy the evidence. No more ovens. If they couldn't get to them, just take your weapon and kill, kill sick people. Just kill to destroy the living evidence of the horrors and evils that were being perpetrated. `` . . . shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of women's dresses, men's suits, and shoes that Germans did not have time to burn.''
They valued the clothing. They valued the paraphernalia more than they valued the lives of the people. They saved the material things and destroyed the human beings. What kind of people were they? Evil is not a sufficient label for persons who would do such dastardly things.
Mr. Speaker, in the United States, Days of Remembrance for Victims of the Holocaust were formalized when President Carter signed the establishing resolution. The Days of Remembrance will occur in April. President Carter signed the resolution. The resolution was signed for April 28 and April 29. It passed the House on April 17, 1978. It passed the Senate on April 25, 1978, and President Carter signed the resolution on September 18, 1978, the Holocaust Remembrance Day Resolution designating April 28 and 29, 1979, as days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.
Here are words from the resolution:
``Whereas, 6 million Jews and millions of other people were murdered in concentration camps as part of a program of extermination carried out by the Nazi Party during World War II;
``Whereas, the people of the United States should recognize''--this is what the resolution said; I would add ``people of the world should recognize''--``that all acts of bigotry are rooted in the cruelty of spirit and the callousness that led the Nazis to commit atrocities against millions of people, and should dedicate themselves to the principle of human equality.''
Speaking aside for a moment, the world should recognize, not just the United States but the world, that those who tolerate bigotry perpetuate bigotry. The acceptance of bigotry, the toleration of bigotry, is the perpetuation of bigotry, and we should all devote ourselves to the principle of human equality.
This is from our resolution, the dedication and devotion of ourselves to human equality. I am proud of the House of Representatives for passing this resolution.
It continues:
``Whereas the people of the United States should recognize that tyranny creates the political atmosphere in which bigotry flourishes, and should be vigilant to detect, and ready to resist, the tyrannical exercise of power.''
Let me step aside for a moment and remind us that not only should we resist the tyrannical exercise of power; we should also resist the voices that verbalize power. We should resist those who would march through the streets of an American city carrying torches, shouting, ``Jews will not replace us.'' Our failure to resist and to announce, to state without question, without hesitation, or reservation, that such persons are persons who are perpetuating bigotry and hatred, the kind of bigotry and hatred that can lead to the death of people, our failure to do so is a means by which our inaction causes the perpetuation of bigotry and violence.
Inaction is unacceptable. Every person has a duty, a responsibility, and an obligation to speak up and speak out against such demonstrations by people in this country.
The unfortunate circumstance is that, in this country, there is at least one person who would proclaim that among those who were screaming, ``Jews will not replace us,'' there is at least one person who found some ``nice people'' to be among the ranks of those who would say such a thing.
``Whereas, on April 29 of 1945 the Armed Forces of the United States liberated the surviving victims of Nazi internment in the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, and revealed to the world evidence of a tragic human Holocaust that must never be forgotten. . . .''
To never forget is to do more than to recite what happened. To never forget requires that we also denounce those who would do dastardly deeds today. It is good for us to say that those who perpetrated deeds in the past should not be forgotten, but we must also denounce those who would perpetrate such dastardly deeds today.
These deeds include statements that some people see as harmless, what they see as just name-calling. When you call a person who happens to be of a certain ancestry the name ``Coco Chow,'' that is just name-calling to some people. When it comes from a person who has held the highest office in the land, it is more than name-calling. It gives some people a belief that people of a certain ethnicity, of a certain ancestry, are not as worthy of human life as others.
We have a responsibility to call out these things. We cannot allow this kind of name-calling, which can eventually conclude in the loss of life, to go unchecked. We have to check it. I am here today to check it.
Ours is a great country. I love my country. I salute the flag. I say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sing the national anthem. I stand. I place my hand over my heart. I love my country. But that doesn't mean that I won't criticize those who would do things that would cause harm to others within the country.
It also doesn't mean that I won't defend those who choose not to salute the flag, who choose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem. That is a right that they have in this country.
We also have to recognize that all of us, we have to denounce people who say things, who use words that according to Emily Dickinson when she indicated to us: ``A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.'' Those who give life to these words can cause some people to harm other people.
Whereas the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, is not only a shocking symbol of Nazi brutality and destruction, but also a symbol of the danger inherent in tyranny, the pernicious quality of bigotry, and the human capacity to be cruel: Therefore, now, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that April 28 and 29 of 1979 are designated as ``Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust,'' and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such days with appropriate ceremonies and activities. Approved September 18, 1978.
Today, we commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz.
Later on, we will commemorate these days of remembrance. I have lived long enough now to know that if we fail to remember the Holocaust, a great human tragedy, a crime against humanity unlike any other, there is no other crime against humanity that can be compared to the Holocaust, just as there is no other crime against humanity that can be compared to slavery.
If we fail to remember the crimes against humanity committed in Auschwitz, I believe, unfortunately, that humankind is capable of repeating the horrors of the Holocaust. It is our eternal vigilance that will prevent this from ever occurring again. Our failure to be vigilant will create days that the human mind cannot conceive of occurring again.
I am here today as a Member of Congress to make sure that my record reflects that I will not forget, that I will stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters against all who would claim that the Holocaust never occurred, against all who were to proclaim that Jewish people have done things that would merit this kind of horrific behavior. I stand with them. They are my brothers and sisters. Their lives are important to me, and the lives that were lost are important to me.
I want my record to reflect that when I had the opportunity as a Member of Congress to stand before the world and take a stand, Mr. Speaker, I want my record to reflect that I took a stand against the evils that took place at Auschwitz and the evils of the Holocaust.
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