28 January 2005
House Marks Auschwitz Anniversary, Urges World to Fight Bigotry
Survivor concerned that mankind's memories of Holocaust are fading
Washington -- The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution January 25 commending countries and organizations for marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and urging a strengthening of the fight against racism, intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, discrimination and anti-Semitism.
The only Holocaust survivor among members of Congress introduced the resolution: Tom Lantos of California, ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee.
Lantos and his wife Annette Tillemann Lantos, another Holocaust survivor, were members of the Presidential Delegation to Poland led by Vice President Cheney to attend the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps on January 27.
In urging other members of Congress to support his resolution, Lantos said, “unfortunately, the memories of mankind are all too short and new generations have been born who cannot remember, and unfortunately have not been taught, about these horrors."
He told his fellow House lawmakers he was disheartened by the "shocking lack of knowledge" of the Holocaust today, citing a recent survey of passersby on a street in Orlando, Florida, that found that 63 percent had no idea what Auschwitz was, and another survey in Britain that found 45 percent of the respondents had never heard of Auschwitz.
Lantos’ resolution calls on governments and teachers to speak to young people about the Holocaust. It is "vital to our own future that we remember why Auschwitz happened, why the horrors of the Holocaust occurred, and why we must fight bigotry, intolerance, racism, and anti-Semitism in order to make the world safer and better and more civilized for our children and our grandchildren."
Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey who co-chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission, said there is a "terrible rising tide of anti-Semitism that has been occurring throughout Europe, among the OSCE's [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] 55 countries, and really throughout the world."
Smith urged every American who visits Washington to walk through the Holocaust Museum. He expressed the hope that during the meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Washington in July, the members from each of the 55 participating states would "spend at least half a day going through the Holocaust Museum to remember so that the past does not become prologue."
"Anti-Semitism is on the rise, and it must be countered," he said.
Lantos also pointed to the recent Department of State first annual ``Report on Global Anti-Semitism," available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm
He summed up the report's findings: "Hatred of Jews is on the increase by hate mongers of all types; anti-Israel sentiment crosses the line between criticism of Israeli policies and anti-Semitism; Holocaust denial and Holocaust minimization find increasingly overt acceptance as sanctioned historical discourse in a number of Middle Eastern countries.
"This chilling report and the shocking lack of knowledge about the Holocaust only reaffirm the importance of our resolution today and the importance of the educational events that are taking place in Auschwitz and elsewhere around the globe," said Lantos.
President Bush also took up the call for Holocaust education and remembrance on January 25. In a proclamation, Bush said the anniversary "is a sobering reminder of the power of evil and the need for people to oppose evil wherever it exists. It is a reminder that when we find anti-Semitism, we must come together to fight it."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
