Commending Countries and Organizations for Marking the 60th Anniversary of Liberation of Auschwitz

COMMENDING COUNTRIES AND ORGANIZATIONS FOR MARKING 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ -- (House of Representatives - January 25, 2005)

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Ms. MCCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, as an original cosponsor of H. Res. 39, I rise today to support this resolution marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and exposing the world to this dark chapter in human history.

An estimated 6 million Jewish men, women and children, more than 60 percent of the pre-Second World War Jewish population of Europe, were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz and other death camps during World War II. The Holocaust and the human suffering perpetrated by the Nazi regime against the Jews of Europe deserves to be commemorated with prayer, reflection and the solemn words of this resolution.

On this day, as we remember the victims of Auschwitz and the genocide which ravaged Europe during World War II, genocide is not a relic of history, but a reality in today's world. The human race has not conquered the tyranny of men willing to commit mass murder--genocide--against other human beings. At this moment in the Darfur region of Sudan our own Secretary of State has called the systematic murder and rape of tens of thousands--along with the forced dislocation of some 1.8 million people--a modern day ``genocide.'' In fact, it is because I am traveling back from the Sudan and eastern Chad having visited directly with the victims of the ethnic cleansing in Darfur that I am not present to vote in support of H. Res. 39.

Today, as we remember the liberation of Auschwitz, the liberation of human beings forced to suffer unimaginable horrors, let us commit this House as well as the will and power of our great Nation, to the cause of eradicating genocide and holding the perpetrators of such grotesque crimes against humanity accountable.

I commend my friend Mr. LANTOS for his leadership on this resolution and I look forward to working closely with him and Chairman HYDE to end the tyranny of genocide in the world today.

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