William Martini: “I rise today to honor Yom HaShoah and remember the 6 million Jewish people who were killed in the Holocaust. I also rise…”

“I rise today to honor Yom HaShoah and remember the 6 million Jewish people who were killed in the Holocaust. I also rise today to pledge my full support for House Resolution 316, a resolution deploring individuals in the United States and abroad who deny the historical reality of the Holocaust and commending the work of the Holocaust Museum. Last summer, I was fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to visit Israel as a member of a congressional delegation researching the tangible effects of the peace process. My visit taught me a tremendous amount. Fortunately, we were given the opportunity to visit many historical landmarks in Israel that are of particular importance to understanding the history of Judaism. This history could not be holistically understood without a visit to Yad Vasheem. This memorial museum to the victims of the Holocaust was both horrifying and beautiful in an enlightening way. Horrifying in its intensity and in its truth and beautiful in its message. The message of remembrance is immortalized. My visit to Yad Vasheem still haunts me. The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, is an equally monumental achievement made possible by the spirit of hope and remembrance. Similarly, this museum painfully humanizes and chronicles the most cataclysmic event in Jewish history, as well as human history. The Shoah--Holocaust--was a genocide acted out on the international stage in the face of apathy and often complicity.”