Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SALAZAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge the passage of my bill, the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act.

Anti-Semitism has always been a tragic feature of world history, but there was no greater display of anti-Semitism than when the Nazis tried to wipe out the Jews from the face of the Earth. Hitler and his satanic advisers were the architects of one of the cruelest chapters in the history of humanity called the Holocaust.

We all know too well the horrors of that period, but we often forget the remarkable individuals across the world who, at great personal risk, helped millions and millions of Jews escape the death camps.

H.R. 537 recognizes 60 diplomats--some of them are pictured right here--who used their positions and influence to help those under persecution escape death. How? By issuing fake visas or hiding them in the embassies. They simply smuggled the Jews destined for concentration camps out of the hands of evil.

These heroes come from a variety of nations, including the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Spain, Italy, Poland, Japan, and even Nazi Germany. They displayed undeniable courage and embodied the best of humanity during one of the darkest times of human history.

History, unfortunately, repeats itself, and today denial of the Holocaust is at an all-time high, with one out of five Americans under the age of 30 believing it never happened. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic incidents in this country, in the United States, have gone up more than 300 percent since the terrorist attack on Israel last October.

Honoring the heroes of the past helps us acknowledge the Holocaust as a real event and serves today in the present as a chilling reminder of one of the devastating consequences of silence in the face of evil. Nonetheless, despite these unspeakable atrocities that defined that period, these people demonstrated that humanity also has the capacity for extraordinary acts of courage.

By supporting this legislation, we will honor the memory of these heroes, we will preserve the truth of the Holocaust for future generations, and we will continue to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Abe Foxman and Art Reidel, as well as my co-lead of this bill, the gentleman from New York, the Honorable Congressman Ritchie Torres.

Mr. TORRES of New York. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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