Kendrick Meek: “I rise today to recognize Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah, to memorialize…”

“I rise today to recognize Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah, to memorialize the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. In 1933, Europe's Jewish population was over nine million. However, by 1945, almost two out of three European Jews had been killed as part of the Final Solution, a policy to murder the Jews. However, the Nazis' cruelty was not just limited to Jews, they also murdered gypsies, the mentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and those deemed religious dissidents, like Jehovah's Witnesses. We must remember the lives of those who were subjected to unspeakable atrocities, targeted simply because of their religious beliefs. We must remember those mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons who perished so brutally in the camps, in the ghettos, and in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. This year, Yom Hashoah comes as we mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. We must never forget what can happen to civilized people when bigotry and hatred rule. We all share the responsibility to combat ignorance, intolerance, and prejudice no matter what the form. And 60 years later, it is still entirely unbelievable that individuals contemplated in seriousness the systematic destruction of over 6 million people. On this anniversary, as we honor lives lost, I extend my condolences to those who lost loved ones in the Holocaust. They will always be remembered.”