On Tuesday, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum held the 2025 Days of Remembrance Commemoration at the U.S. Capitol to honor victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, Alan Holt, Vice-Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial, Nathaniel.
00:00:16Good morning, and a special welcome to our survivors.
00:00:21Exactly 80 years ago today, two weeks before the German surrender, American newspaper publishers and editors began a 15-day tour of some of the recently liberated concentration camps.
00:00:42They came from Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Houston, New Orleans, and large cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
00:00:56At the same time, a bipartisan congressional delegation from 12 different states was making a similar tour.
00:01:07They were all there not just because the largest, most destructive war in human history was coming to an end.
00:01:16They were there because finally the world could now definitively determine if many of the reports about German atrocities could possibly be true.
00:01:32They had been invited by General Dwight Eisenhower, who just 12 days earlier had visited Orchdorf, one of the newly liberated camps, for himself.
00:01:47Throughout the war, he read the intelligence reports describing the atrocities.
00:01:54They seemed unthinkable, so he needed to see for himself.
00:02:01Seeing was believing.
00:02:04He realized that the unthinkable was indeed possible.
00:02:09He wrote,
00:02:10The things I saw beggar description.
00:02:15The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick.
00:02:28I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these sins.
00:02:37If ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda.
00:02:48Eisenhower could not have imagined social media, but he most definitely understood human nature.
00:02:57We know this all too well as Holocaust denial continues to grow with each passing year.
00:03:05Just 17 days after Eisenhower's visit to Orchdorf, a 25-year-old Polish-born man named Israel Holsecker was liberated by American soldiers.
00:03:23He had been in at least five different concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau.
00:03:34I would not be here, but for those American soldiers who liberated Israel, my father, exactly 80 years ago.
00:03:47Because it was in the course of liberation that Israel met another young survivor, Jenny, my mother.
00:03:56Israel and Jenny, I'm sad to say, are now gone, as are most of the World War II veterans.
00:04:09I worry that new generations will not understand what was at stake during the war.
00:04:16For five and a half years, the Germans and their allies waged a brutal military war and a war against the Jews and other so-called racial enemies.
00:04:30For America, it was a war to defend all the values that our great nation stands for, the founding principles of our polaristic democracy.
00:04:43Eisenhower invited those journalists and congressmen to see the liberated camps because he knew one lesson of the war must be that the unthinkable would always be possible.
00:04:59And he also knew that with time, despite a lesson, easily forgotten.
00:05:13Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of the flags of the United States Army Liberating Division.
00:05:27First Infantry Division, Falkenau-Under-Hanger.
00:05:42The 101st Air Force Division, Lotzberg.
00:05:452nd Infantry Division, Leipzig, Schoenafeld, and Speargaard.
00:05:5682nd Air Force Division, Verbally.
00:06:014th Infantry Division, Dachau-Subcats.
00:06:0520th Armored Division, Dachau.
00:06:078th Infantry Division, Verbally.
00:06:1614th Armored Division, Palkenau-Subcats.
00:06:2426th Infantry Division, Booson.
00:06:2812th Armored Division, Lotzberg.
00:06:3029th Infantry Division, Dachau-Under-Hanger.
00:06:3929th Infantry Division, Dachau-Under-Hanger.
00:06:4011th Armored Division, Booson and Malthausen.
00:06:4830th Infantry Division, Beferlingen.
00:06:5110th Armored Division, Lotzberg.
00:06:5336th Infantry Division, Palkenau-Under-Hanger.
00:07:029th Armored Division, Falkenau-Under-Hanger.
00:07:0742nd Infantry Division, Dachau.
00:07:118th Armored Division, Alba-Schadden-Skeegbeck.
00:07:1845th Infantry Division, Dachau.
00:07:216th Armored Division, Booson-Under-Hanger.
00:07:2963rd Infantry Division, Palkenau-Under-Hanger.
00:07:3163rd Infantry Division, Palkenau-Under-Hanger.
00:07:324th Armored Division, Boer-Grope.
00:07:3965th Infantry Division, Flossenburg-Sundkamp.
00:07:433rd Armored Division, Dora-Bindelbaum.
00:07:4569th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:07:4969th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:07:51104th Infantry Division, Dora-Bindelbaum.
00:07:5771st Infantry Division, Boos-Sundkamp.
00:07:59103rd Infantry Division, Lotzberg.
00:08:0280th Infantry Division, Booson-Under-Hanger.
00:08:0780th Infantry Division, Booson-Under-Hanger.
00:08:1099th Infantry Division, Hachau-Sundkamp.
00:08:1583rd Infantry Division, Lachenstein.
00:08:1895th Infantry Division, Farrell.
00:08:2484th Infantry Division, Olive-Sundkamp.
00:08:2790th Infantry Division, Flossenburg.
00:08:3086th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:3786th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:3889th Infantry Division, Boardroom.
00:08:4089th Infantry Division, Boardroom.
00:08:4289th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4489th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4589th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4689th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4789th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4889th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:4989th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5089th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5189th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5289th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5389th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5489th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:08:5589th Infantry Division, Lutzberg-Sundkamp.
00:09:26Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the presentation of the National Colors and the National Anthem.
00:12:28I'm aÄôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôôô
00:12:58Please be seated.
00:13:23Ladies and gentlemen, Ambassador Stuart Eisenstein,
00:13:28Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
00:13:40Survivors, this past January, along with our director, Sarah Bloomfield,
00:13:47I had the distinct honor of leading our Holocaust Museum delegation, the Auschwitz-Birkenau,
00:13:53to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation.
00:13:59High-level delegations from 54 countries, including presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors, and royalty,
00:14:08which included King Charles of the UK, gathered to remember the victims and to honor the survivors,
00:14:15to hear remarks from my dear friend, survivor Marian Kersky, and several others.
00:14:22It was particularly moving, occurring against a backdrop of unprecedented Holocaust denial
00:14:30and rising anti-Semitism since the October 7th attack on Israel.
00:14:37It was also painful knowing that there are only 1,000 Auschwitz survivors left.
00:14:44Thankfully, three of them volunteer at our museum.
00:14:49These Auschwitz survivors were part of the last large Jewish community to be killed, the Hungarian Jews.
00:14:58It was the spring of 1944, and it was clear to all that the end of the war was just a matter of time.
00:15:06Nevertheless, the Nazi regime relentlessly continued their war against the Jews,
00:15:13diverting resources necessary to fight the Allied forces in World War II just to murder more and more and more Jews.
00:15:24After Germany occupied Hungary, 437,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz in only 56 days.
00:15:35While these deportations continued day after day, our soldiers were landing at Normandy,
00:15:43and the Soviets were poised to liberate the Madonic concentration camp in occupied Poland.
00:15:50And yet the Germans never paused for even a moment.
00:15:55At a time of D-Day, January 6, 1944,
00:16:00the vast majority of the 6 million Jews and millions of others had already been exterminated.
00:16:08In January 1944, the senior staff of the U.S. Treasury Department presented to President Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Morgenthau Jr.,
00:16:22one of the most extraordinary reports ever produced in American history.
00:16:28Originally entitled,
00:16:30Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government and the Murder of the Jews.
00:16:38It accused the State Department of refusing to facilitate the emigration of European Jews,
00:16:44and the Roosevelt administration of failing to disclose information they had on the genocide of the Jews.
00:16:52At the strong urging of Secretary Morgenthau, when he presented this report in the Oval Office to President Roosevelt,
00:17:01together with the growing public and congressional pressure, FDR finally took belated action on January 22, 1944, to save Jews.
00:17:13He created the War Refugee Board on which Morgenthau played a major role.
00:17:19Thanks to their urgent action and the heroism of Swedish diplomat, businessman, and humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg,
00:17:28the War Refugee Board saved up to 200,000 mostly Hungarian Jews.
00:17:34Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet Union in January 1945 and has never been seen again.
00:17:45But he has never forgotten.
00:17:47His role is prominently featured in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
00:17:52which is located appropriately on Raoul Wallenberg Place.
00:17:57Understanding all of these events is essential to understanding how and why
00:18:03the Holocaust happened.
00:18:05The murder of the Hungarian Jews reveals the depth and fervor of Nazi ideology for sure,
00:18:13to kill every Jew they could.
00:18:16And that is exactly what the Germans would do for almost another full year until the very last day of the war.
00:18:23But, importantly, the murder of the Hungarian Jews and other Jews and other victims
00:18:31reveals something else, that the Germans needed help.
00:18:37After Germany occupied its Hungarian ally,
00:18:4020,000 Hungarian police and gendarmes facilitated the rapid deportations.
00:18:47The fascist Hungarian government only stopped the deportations under international pressure
00:18:54and recognizing the war was lost.
00:18:57At the same time, the War Refugee Board demonstrated that rescue of Jews was possible,
00:19:03so choices were made by government and, yes, by ordinary people all along the way.
00:19:12Life and death choices.
00:19:15Even under the extreme circumstances created by Hitler and the Nazis and his allies.
00:19:21People had choices.
00:19:24There were thousands of rescuers and occupied European countries who risked their lives to save Jews.
00:19:32And they deserve special recognition and get it in our museum.
00:19:37But they were a distinct minority.
00:19:40The Germans knew they could not implement what they called euphemistically
00:19:46the final solution of the Jewish question on their own.
00:19:50They needed the cooperation of hundreds of thousands of Europeans
00:19:54and, yes, the silence of millions of others.
00:19:58And they got it.
00:20:00The Holocaust was perpetrated by civil servants, by judges, by lawyers, by police officers, by academics,
00:20:08by doctors, by businessmen, by railroad workers, and by so many others.
00:20:13The Nazis drove the action, but ordinary people made the killing of six million Jews
00:20:20and millions of others possible, all of whom were targeted by the Nazis
00:20:25for racial, anti-Semitic, or political reasons.
00:20:30And we must face up to history's judgment that the Nazis also needed the failure of Western European nations
00:20:38and our own great country, whose soldiers heroically did so much to win the war
00:20:43and are represented by the honor guards you saw,
00:20:47to open their doors and their hearts to take fleeing Jews when they could still escape and they didn't.
00:20:54As I sat at that Auschwitz commemoration, I thought of all the innocent victims of the Holocaust
00:21:02who's voices have been forever silenced and the one and a half million children
00:21:08never able to make their mark in the world and pursue their dreams.
00:21:13But I also remember the courage and determination of all the survivors
00:21:19who built a new life for themselves and their families,
00:21:22and who gave their voice, and continue to, to teach the world about the tragedy and its lessons
00:21:28for our own troubled world today.
00:21:31And I also remember the courage of our own soldiers who liberated the camps.
00:21:36At the same time, I also asked myself, which companies worked slave laborers to death,
00:21:45as they were forced to produce military products to keep the death machine of the Third Reich going?
00:21:53Who designed the gas chambers in the crematorium?
00:21:56Who manufactured the deadly Zyklon B gas?
00:22:01Who made the deportation lists?
00:22:03Who drove the trains?
00:22:05Who confiscated the property of the Jews, including their neighbors,
00:22:10in what was not only the greatest genocide in history, but one of the greatest deaths in history?
00:22:16To eliminate all evidence of Jewish culture, religion, and possessions,
00:22:21with the same brutal efficiency as the Holocaust itself.
00:22:26Today, on this very special day of memory, there is much to remember.
00:22:31We remember the thousands of Jewish communities that were destroyed forever,
00:22:36and the unique Eastern Jewish European culture that was also destroyed forever.
00:22:42We remember those heroic individuals who took great risks to save Jews.
00:22:47And above all, we remember victims, the innocent men, women, and children.
00:22:53As we remember the victims, we must never forget those who made them victims.
00:22:59And we must continue to draw inspiration from the survivors,
00:23:03over 200,000 of whom are still with us today around the world.
00:23:09Now, it's my distinct pleasure to introduce our distinguished keynote speaker.
00:23:14When I began my remarks, I referenced the commemoration of the 80th anniversary
00:23:20of the liberation of Auschwitz-Herkadel.
00:23:23President Trump's delegation to that ceremony was co-led by the 41st Secretary of Commerce, Howard W. Ludden,
00:23:31whom we're very fortunate to have with us today in the midst of his very heavy burdens.
00:23:37Secretary Ludwig is also known for his singular humanitarian work in the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks
00:23:46that supported the families of those who were killed in his company in the World Trade Center,
00:23:52including his own brother, and victims of other disasters.
00:23:56Mr. Secretary, you do us honor by coming.
00:23:59We look forward to your remarks on this solemn Holocaust Remembrance Day.
00:24:06Thank you. Thank you first to the survivors who honor me with their presence and honor all of us.
00:24:33We deeply appreciate being here today.
00:24:37Thank you to the Holocaust Museum for inviting me and for putting together this morning's program.
00:24:45It's an honor. It's an extraordinary privilege also to be in the Capitol,
00:24:52a building that stands not only as the seat of our government, but it stands for freedom.
00:24:59It stands for justice. It stands for the enduring strength of the American people.
00:25:05It is the flags behind me. All those infantry divisions and all those armored divisions that ended the massacre of 6 million Jews.
00:25:18It is the core strength of America that freed us. And I think while we stand here today, I think we should remember with the flags behind me how vital and important America is and our armed forces are.
00:25:35Today we gather to mourn the loss of 6 million innocent people.
00:25:41We gather to remember the horror, the horrors that these people lived through.
00:25:48But we gather not just to remember what happened, but also to make sure, of course, that it shall never happen again.
00:25:56So this, as was just mentioned this past January, I traveled with my friend Steve Witkoff and we led the American delegation to Auschwitz.
00:26:07And we mark the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation.
00:26:14There are no books, no photographs, no documentaries that can enter your soul the way physically being in Auschwitz pierces inside of you.
00:26:29Stand beside gas chambers that were designed to kill people.
00:26:36Stand behind ovens that were designed to kill people.
00:26:41And you see the fabric of these people's lives strewn in an exhibition to just remind you of how horrible the events were.
00:26:53Over 1.1 million people, 1.1 million people were murdered there.
00:27:00Children, mothers, grandparents, teachers, human beings.
00:27:08And they were all targeted, as we all know, simply for being Jewish.
00:27:13And there you could feel the horror of it all.
00:27:16I met survivors there.
00:27:18I heard their stories.
00:27:20I saw the tattoos inked on their arms.
00:27:26They survived and they reminded me of the scale of the hate that can and must be overcome.
00:27:36The Holocaust was a failure of humanity.
00:27:40But as we all know, no matter how hard we try, that kind of hatred continues to exist just in many, many other forms.
00:27:51It shows up in different ways and it shows up in different times.
00:27:56On September 11th, our country was attacked by jihadists.
00:28:04These radical jihadists murdered thousands of innocent people.
00:28:10They killed my brother, Gary.
00:28:12He was 36.
00:28:14They killed my best friend, Doug.
00:28:17He was 39.
00:28:19And they killed 656 of my other friends and colleagues who worked at my company, Canter Fitzgerald,
00:28:26because Canter Fitzgerald was on the top five floors of the World Trade Center.
00:28:32I lost nearly everyone I worked with.
00:28:36It was enough, really, to break anyone.
00:28:39But we decided we would rebuild in order to care for the families of our colleagues who were killed that day.
00:28:49On October 7th, 2023, an evil had surfaced again.
00:28:56In Israel, 1,200 Jewish men, women and children were massacred.
00:29:02Women raped and mutilated.
00:29:04Entire families burned alive.
00:29:07254 people taken hostage.
00:29:11Again, it was coordinated.
00:29:14Again, it was calculated.
00:29:17Again, it was carried out with the same genocidal hatred that fueled Auschwitz.
00:29:25And it's that same disregard for human life that fueled the September 11th attacks.
00:29:34It's just the same hate.
00:29:36It just comes at a different time with a different name.
00:29:42So we have to be clear.
00:29:44We have to be strong.
00:29:46And we have to be united.
00:29:48America is great because we believe in freedom.
00:29:53We believe in justice.
00:29:56We believe in truth.
00:29:58And that is exactly what our enemies hate.
00:30:04And when those key ingredients of America are tested, we rise.
00:30:15That's why the flags are behind me.
00:30:17And that's why we stand here in our capital.
00:30:21We don't run from it.
00:30:23We address it head on.
00:30:25We remember it.
00:30:27So we will see it coming.
00:30:29And we must stop it before it spreads.
00:30:32So I'm here to tell you in very, very clear and plain language.
00:30:42I'm here to tell you.
00:30:43President Trump will never back down from defending the Jewish people.
00:30:52Never.
00:30:57And President Trump stands, stands shoulder to shoulder with the people and the state of
00:31:10Israel.
00:31:15The judges and universities that enable anti-Semitism, they will lose our government's support.
00:31:22The Trump administration will not protect institutions that protect hate.
00:31:36This administration's promise is real.
00:31:41It matters.
00:31:42And it's not going anywhere.
00:31:47This country stands with the Jewish people, not just in words, but in the actions that we
00:31:54take.
00:31:55We are all honored to be standing beside our incredible survivors who are with us today.
00:32:20Thank you for honoring us.
00:32:22We remember the Holocaust and its horrors together.
00:32:27And we stand as, together with the Trump administration, all of us stand against hate and we stand against
00:32:38anti-Semitism.
00:32:39Thank you for honoring me today by having me here.
00:32:53Ladies and gentlemen, Abe Foxman, Holocaust survivor.
00:33:10Thank you, Abe.
00:33:12My dear fellow survivors.
00:33:14My dear fellow survivors, we are here again today, bear witness.
00:33:38The killing of Europe's Jews ended eight decades ago, but the memories, the memories never end.
00:33:48The legacies never end, and the lessons must never, never end.
00:33:57After surviving that unimaginable tragedy, the loss of everything we cherish, our families,
00:34:05friends, communities, the betrayal of our neighbors, we worked quickly to rebuild our lives.
00:34:14We were focused on the future, but the past, the past was always with us as it is today
00:34:24and as it will always be.
00:34:28Over the years, it has been deeply gratifying to see Holocaust survivors build an international
00:34:35memory movement.
00:34:37It has been gratifying to see the creation of many Holocaust institutions across the country.
00:34:45And it was gratifying that our nation made an extraordinary commitment by creating a Federal
00:34:52Holocaust Museum near the National Mall, that adjacent to the museums that present the history
00:34:59of this great nation and celebrate human achievement, next to them there would stand a powerful counterpoint,
00:35:08reminding the world of the dark side of human achievement.
00:35:15And an advanced, educated country with a democratic constitution like Germany would launch a world war,
00:35:23one of whose main goals would be to eradicate European Jewry.
00:35:31Now, here we are, in a new century, approaching the eventual end of the eyewitness generation.
00:35:43And while I remain gratified by all that has been accomplished, I wonder if the lessons of the Holocaust have been learned,
00:35:52and I'm deeply worried about the future. I sense I may be speaking for many survivors.
00:36:03We look around us and what do we see rampant anti-Semitism on college campuses in the cities worldwide
00:36:10in the aftermath of that horrific terror attack on our cherished Jewish state Israel.
00:36:18We see social media algorithms that promote extreme views, conspiracy theories, and online conspiracy theories
00:36:25are just one click away from anti-Semitism.
00:36:30And anti-Semitism not so different from the conspiracy theories that permeated Europe for centuries,
00:36:39long before Hitler was born, and helped make the killings of two-thirds of our people possible.
00:36:48As we look around us, we also see forms of anti-Semitism that seemed unthinkable.
00:36:55Holocaust denial, distortion, trivialization, exploitation, and even glorification.
00:37:05We look around and see here in America anti-Semitism on both far left and far right.
00:37:11The 20th century history of Naziism and Communism should be an alarm bell as just to how dangerous this is,
00:37:20and not just for us Jews, but for all of society, for all who care about democracy, individual freedom, and dignity.
00:37:30I'm very worried, and I still have hope.
00:37:37Your presence here today gives me hope.
00:37:42Thousands of teenagers pouring through the U.S. Holocaust Memorial every year gives me hope.
00:37:49To teachers throughout America committed to Holocaust education give me hope.
00:37:58And the fact that I am here gives me hope.
00:38:04Because I am here only because of one Polish woman who made a choice to save a Jewish child.
00:38:14Her name was Brantislava Kurpi.
00:38:17She was my nanny.
00:38:19Brantislava Kurpi to whom I owe my life.
00:38:23There were others like her, but sadly far too few.
00:38:29The Holocaust teaches us many lessons about the fragility of democracy, the dangers of anti-Semitism.
00:38:37But it also teaches us that choice is always possible.
00:38:42That silence is a choice.
00:38:45And choices always, always have consequences.
00:38:50Individuals have more power than they think.
00:38:55We survivors hope that more people will use that power to confront anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred.
00:39:05That is our hope and our challenge to all of you on this very special day.
00:39:11And on every day, may we all choose wisely.
00:39:17We live in very chaotic times where our values, our history, our democracy are being tested.
00:39:26As a sliver, I am horrified at the explosion of anti-Semitism global and in the US.
00:39:34And I am appreciative of President Biden's historic initiative on anti-Semitism and thankful to President Trump's strong condemnation of anti-Semitism and his promise to bring back consequences to anti-Semitic behavior.
00:39:53But as a survivor, my antennae quiver, my antennae quiver when I see books being banned, when I see people being abducted in the streets, when I see government trying to dictate what universities should teach and whom they should teach.
00:40:15As a survivor who came to this country as an immigrant, I am troubled when I hear immigrants and immigration being demonized.
00:40:27As some of you know, I was born in the wrong time, in the wrong place.
00:40:55For a Jewish child.
00:40:59Nazi-occupied Poland in 1940 was not the best place to be born.
00:41:06And yet I managed to survive by the intercession of one special person's kindness, courage, compassion, decency, and most likely several miracles to survive.
00:41:19As I grew older, I tried to understand what it meant that I had survived.
00:41:28And the first set of questions were very serious existential questions of why.
00:41:34Why did the Shoah, the Holocaust, happen to the Jewish people?
00:41:39Why did over a million and a half Jewish children perish?
00:41:42Why was the world silent and why?
00:41:45Why didn't the Almighty intervene?
00:41:47Why did they intervene?
00:41:49To these universal questions of why were added very personal questions.
00:41:54Why me?
00:41:55Why me and not the other little boys and girls?
00:41:59The Shleimalach, the Hanalach, the Saralach, the Moishalach.
00:42:03Why not them?
00:42:04Why me?
00:42:06Because the Octane Taliban in theroot Friage, the people.
00:42:08The world is a bunch of voices.
00:42:09Do not be the second questions that driving камers of the bound.
00:42:11For the sake ofistan, if the commandments in prayer, let's spoil everyone's words,
00:42:12and the brothers go nuts.
00:42:15Do not find them, too, for the Lord as Wanting to come, or their sisters,
00:42:17for therastines of theaj�� 우리가aeda.
00:42:18In that struggle to understand, two facts became very clear .
00:42:20One is that the world knew, the world knew.
00:42:21There was no CNN.
00:42:22There was no Fox.
00:42:23There were no satellite feeds.
00:42:24internet, no 24-7 news, yet the world knew those in positions of power to make decisions
00:42:30to stop what was happening knew. They knew every day how many Jews were being killed
00:42:36in Lodz, in Baranovich, in Minsk, in Gautzok. They knew. And for years previously, they
00:42:44knew what was happening. Ken Burns in his PBS series, America in the Holocaust, told the
00:42:51world how much America knew, and how little it did. So the first lesson for us is to know,
00:43:00to know about antisemitism, about bigotry, to know about hatred, to know who it is that
00:43:05threatens our democracy and our freedom. It's extremely important that we know, but knowing
00:43:11is not enough. The second thing that became clear is that wherever, whenever, however good
00:43:19people said no, wherever good people stood up and said no, no to hate, Jews lived, gays lived,
00:43:30Roma lived.
00:43:35There was an Oscar Schindler who saved 1,200 Jews. There was a Raoul Wahlberg, you heard,
00:43:42a Swedish diplomat who saved 50,000, maybe 100,000 Jews. There were 60 diplomats, 60 diplomats,
00:43:50who acted against their country's wishes and saved thousands of Jews. There was Denmark, Bulgaria,
00:43:58Albania. Ironically, it was in the Balkans that a magnificent chapter of humanity was written,
00:44:05not in the capital cities that provide us with philosophy, with music and art, but in the
00:44:11Balkans. Bulgaria saved all its Jews, not Macedonian Jews, because from the king, to the patriarch,
00:44:18to the pheasant, to the parliamentarians, they all said no. And as I said, I stand here today
00:44:27today because there was a lady who could barely read and write, who did not sit down and weigh
00:44:34the measure and the risk, yet risked her life every single day for four years to protect
00:44:42the life of another human being and she was child. So I stopped asking the questions of why
00:44:50and began to ask the questions on the order of what if. What if instead one Raoul Wahlberg there
00:44:58had been 10,000? What if instead one Oscar Schindler there had been 10,000? What if this wonderful
00:45:05country of ours had permitted the passenger trip to St. Louis to dock at these shores and unload its
00:45:12cargo of refugees? What if we had bombed Auschwitz? What if our neighbors to the North Canada had
00:45:20found room for 5,000 Jewish orphans? What if we had traded trucks to Jews? What if Switzerland
00:45:28would have permitted the entry of Jewish orphans? The Dominican Republic said yes. Cuba said yes.
00:45:36American Canada said no. And there was no Israel. There was no Israel to open its doors. So for me,
00:45:48remembering and bearing witnesses to make sure that our children and grandchildren will never
00:45:53have to ask what if in the future, what if their parents, grandparents stood up every single day to say no,
00:46:00no to anti-semitism, no to hatred, no to bigotry, no to prejudice, and no to racism.
00:46:10Bearing with this also gives me an opportunity to say thank you to my nanny,
00:46:16Brunnish lover, Kupi, who I never, never had the opportunity to thank.
00:46:26Finally, the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers. It began with words, hateful, ugly words,
00:46:32that demonized the greedy, debased Jews, and those words became ugly, hateful deeds.
00:46:38In the Jewish tradition, we believe the life and death is in the power of the tongue.
00:46:43Three times a day, Jews who followed the tradition asked the Almighty to keep my mouth from speaking evil.
00:46:50Nitzor Lishonim Mirah, on Yom Kippur, on the highest day in our atonement,
00:46:57we ask for atonement for the sins of the utterance of our lips,
00:47:01that we commit it by groundless hatred.
00:47:04We believe in the power of words, in the power of good people to stand up and say no.
00:47:11Never again, never again was the 11th commandment etched in the aftermath of our lips.
00:47:18It was etched by the Jewish people based on the Jewish experience,
00:47:22but never again that pledge, that imperative, that commandment as a universal message.
00:47:28For all of us today must bear witness and be faithful to that commandment,
00:47:33which instructs us all to never again be silent when anyone is in fear, danger, isolated, singled out,
00:47:42because the color of their skin, their religion, their ethnic origin, their sexual orientation,
00:47:47or anything, anything that makes them different from the rest.
00:47:52Shockingly, the survivors are today bearing witness to the global epidemic of anti-Semitism.
00:48:02Israel, the Jewish state, is again under attack.
00:48:06Israel has become the Jew amongst the nations,
00:48:10the only country that has to defend its right to defend itself.
00:48:15Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people is again under attack
00:48:21and has become a dirty word.
00:48:24So it is again our responsibility, survivors, to bear witness.
00:48:34And we dare not, we dare not be silent.
00:48:41Am Yisrael Chai.
00:48:45Thank you very much.
00:48:46Thank you very much.
00:48:47Thank you very much.
00:48:49Thank you very much.
00:48:51Thanks very much.
00:48:52I apologize.
00:48:53You can run off on to the party at the party.
00:48:57All right.
00:48:58Go.
00:49:00If you just go.
00:49:01I'm all right.
00:49:02Go.
00:49:04We how are.
00:49:04I'm here.
00:49:05Got right?
00:49:06And we'd live.
00:49:09Go.
00:49:11Hmm.
00:49:11Hmm.
00:49:12I'm here.
00:49:43United States Army officers are participants in a museum leadership program that has included over 800 U.S. military servicemembers. Through examination of the Holocaust, they gain insight into their own professional and individual responsibilities.
00:50:04I am Major Rufus Allen. I remember.
00:50:14I am Major Keaton Troy. I remember.
00:50:30I am Major Zachary Trevathan. I remember.
00:50:43I am Major Danielle Haynes. I remember.
00:50:54I am Major Alexander Manavi. And I remember.
00:51:07I am Major Emily Merrick. I remember.
00:51:19I am Captain Rebecca Melendez. I remember.
00:51:43Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have more than 30 members of the United States Army.
00:52:08Ladies and gentlemen, we are honored to have more than 30 Holocaust survivors with us today. And now, some will share memorial reflections.
00:52:20My name is Louisa Lawrence Israels. Due to bravery, resourcefulness, and sheer luck, I survived with my parents, brother, and dear friend. We hid in an attic for over two years. The image I hold depicts two of my relatives enjoying a wonderful day in the
00:52:50day at the beach. Looking at the beach. Looking at this is bittersweet. I am grateful to have this photo. But I am very saddened that I never got the chance to meet them. That opportunity was ripped away from me when the Nazis occupied my country, the Netherlands, and began deporting its Jews. Both of them were deported to Auschwitz in 1944 and murdered.
00:53:17I honor and remember my great-aunt, Gesine Wilhelmina Gomperts-Polak, and Eddie Barend Gomperts, my cousin.
00:53:32My name is Joan Da Silva. Picture here relaxing on the rolling hills of Poland are my mother, my two aunts, and my grandmother.
00:53:37My name is Joan Da Silva. Picture here relaxing on the rolling hills of Poland are my mother, my two aunts, and my grandmother.
00:53:39Only my mother shall survive the Holocaust. My aunt Lola disappeared shortly.
00:53:42My mother, my two aunts, and my grandmother.
00:53:46My mother shall survive the Holocaust.
00:54:04the Holocaust. My aunt Lola disappeared shortly after the Germans occupied my hometown of Chemish,
00:54:13Poland. My aunt Nuna was betrayed while in hiding and was shot and killed. Even though my family
00:54:22had false IDs for protection, my grandmother refused to leave the ghetto and was later murdered.
00:54:29This image fills me with a mixture of rage and grief. I never had a chance to get to know them,
00:54:40or myself for that matter. At age five and a half, I had to pretend I was someone else in order to
00:54:49survive. Everything was taken away from me before I had a chance to get my bearings in this world and
00:54:58I still feel the effect today. I remember my grandmother Rosa Adolf and my aunts Lola and Nuna Adolf.
00:55:09My name is Peter Feider. Although I was born in Germany, I spent most of the war years in France,
00:55:33trying to stay one step ahead of the Nazis. On August 26, 1942, while I was away at a Quaker summer camp,
00:55:44my parents were arrested. I began writing a diary dedicated to them the very next day. I hoped to
00:55:54tell them about my life during their absence when we were finally reunited. Here you see a page from my diary
00:56:05with photos of my parents. The reunion I so desperately longed for never happened.
00:56:14My parents were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. Had it not been for the help
00:56:23of strangers, I might have suffered the same fate. I remember my parents, Ernst Feigl and Agnes Bornstein Feigl.
00:56:39My name is Robert Teitel. My father, whose portrait you see here, was questioned by the Gestapo in 1935
00:56:57while traveling from the Netherlands to Wuppertal, Germany, to show support for workers who were
00:57:03arrested for protesting Nazi policies. Although he was released without incident, his record made him a
00:57:11target. Just before the German authorities began deporting Jews from the Netherlands in the summer of 1942,
00:57:20my father was arrested, sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp. He was executed the day after he
00:57:27arrived. Fearing for my safety, my mother placed me in hiding with strangers in Amsterdam. I was just one
00:57:36year old. I do not have any memories of my father, and it hurts, but I am grateful to have this portrait of him.
00:57:44Today, and every day, I honor the memory of my father, Abraham Manu Teitel.
00:58:02My name is Nat Shafir. In November of 1942, a local priest with whom we had a great relationship showed
00:58:23that he had a great dad at my family dairy farm in Romania. This time, however, he came only to hand
00:58:29us over to the authorities. Our family had four hours to pack our belongings. He took with us this Haggadah.
00:58:41We used every Passover. My father and I later hid it with other Jewish mutual items in a
00:58:48bombed-out building the day before he was deported to a forced labor camp, leaving me to care for my
00:58:55mother and two of my sisters. I was seven years old at the time. Fortunately, my father survived and we
00:59:04recovered these family treasures. It is especially meaningful to stand before you today and lead the
00:59:12the Mornish Kaddish, as today as also my father still outside. I will be reciting the Kaddish for him
00:59:22and for six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, including 32 members of my extended
00:59:28family. I invite you to please stand and join me in reciting the Mornish Kaddish.
00:59:44This man standing as Chazan,
01:00:13Shabbat,
01:00:15that would chant a traditional prayer for the soul of the dead.
01:00:21I invite you to hold high the photo that's on your chair.
01:00:26Together, we honor their lives and remember them.
01:00:30Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:00:43Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:00:49Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:00:53Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:00:58Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:01:06Yeh Zohram Baruch, Am Yisrael Chai.
01:01:17of the 6 million Jews in Europe,
01:01:24who have gathered,
01:01:30who have been praised,
01:01:33who have been praised,
01:01:36who have been praised
01:01:39and who have been praised
01:01:43and who have been praised
01:01:50and who have been praised
01:01:55in Auschwitz,
01:01:57Reblinka,
01:01:59Maitanik,
01:02:01Madhausen,
01:02:03Bergen-Belsen,
01:02:05Sovipur
01:02:08or
01:02:10IRL
01:02:11A
01:02:13IRL
01:02:14A
01:02:15IRL
01:02:17A
01:02:18IRL
01:02:20A
01:02:22IRL
01:02:23A
01:02:24IRL
01:02:26A
01:02:29A
01:02:32A
01:02:36A
01:02:37A
01:02:40A
01:02:42A
01:02:44A
01:02:46A
01:02:48A
01:02:50A
01:02:52A
01:02:53A
01:02:54A
01:02:55Please be seated.
01:03:19Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
01:03:38With Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism flourishing around us, the wisdom of our survivors is more
01:03:47important than ever.
01:03:50Here is Primo Levi.
01:03:53He said,
01:03:54We must be listened to.
01:03:57Above and beyond our personal experience, we have collectively witnessed a fundamental,
01:04:04unexpected event.
01:04:07Fundamental precisely because unexpected, not foreseen by anyone.
01:04:14It happened, therefore it can happen again.
01:04:18This is the core of what we have to say.
01:04:23And here is Stefa Kupfer on how she survived in hiding.
01:04:30Here's what she said.
01:04:32My mother was very Orthodox.
01:04:35Mrs. Orlewska was deeply religious and respected my mother's religion.
01:04:41So she took one pot, which she scrubbed real good.
01:04:44She cooked potato soup for us every day.
01:04:49My mother didn't have any unkosher food for the duration of the hiding.
01:04:55And my mother would say, take a little money when you go to Mass and give it to the poor.
01:05:02And Mrs. Orlewska would say, there are no poorer people than you.
01:05:09Your children have no fresh air.
01:05:11You have no light.
01:05:13You have no freedom.
01:05:15Nobody is poorer than you.
01:05:19She wouldn't take a penny.
01:05:21Never.
01:05:22She did it out of the goodness of her heart.
01:05:27And after liberation, she says, please, don't stay in touch with me.
01:05:34Don't ever come back.
01:05:36I don't want my neighbors to see you.
01:05:40I am afraid for the safety of my life.
01:05:43My people will not forgive me for saving a Jewish life.
01:05:52Like her neighbors, Mrs. Orlewska was exposed to the anti-Semitism that was rampant across Europe for centuries.
01:06:02So why, why did she choose to not let that disease infect her?
01:06:10And why did she choose to do more than that, to risk her life to save Stetha and her mother?
01:06:20What made Mrs. Orlewska and the other helpers different?
01:06:26They were from every country, every religious background, and every political persuasion.
01:06:33Why were they not influenced by the hatred, propaganda, peer pressure, and greed all around them?
01:06:43The warning of Primo Levi, the gratitude of Stetha, and the actions of Mrs. Orlewska stand for all time, reminding us of what happened and what can happen, and asking each of us this fundamental question.
01:07:05Now that you know, what will you do?
01:07:12For the singing of the Hymn of the Partisans, led by Hassan Elisheva Dinsfrae, and the retirement of the Division 4.
01:07:17For the singing of the Hymn of the Partisans, led by Hassan Elisheva Dinsfrae, and the retirement of the Division 4.
01:07:19Flags.
01:07:20For the singing of the Hymn of the Partisans, led by Hassan Elisheva Dinsfrae, and the retirement of the Division 4.
01:07:42Flags.
01:07:43Flags.
01:07:44Flags.
01:07:45Flags.
01:07:46Flags.
01:07:47Flags.
01:07:48Flags.
01:07:49Flags.
01:07:50Flags.
01:07:51Flags.
01:07:52Flags.
01:07:53Flags.
01:07:54Flags.
01:07:55Flags.
01:07:56Flags.
01:07:57Flags.
01:07:58Flags.
01:07:59Flags.
01:08:00Flags.
01:08:01Flags.
01:08:02Flags.
01:08:03Flags.
01:08:04Flags.
01:08:05Flags.
01:08:06Flags.
01:08:07Flags.
01:08:08Flags.
01:08:09Flags.
01:08:10Flags.
01:08:11Flags.
01:08:12Flags.
01:08:13Never say this is the final road for you, the leaden skies may cover all her days of blue,
01:08:33as the hour that we longed for is so near, our step beats out the message we are here.
01:08:54From lands so green with palms, to lands so white with snow, we shall be coming with our anguish and our woe,
01:09:05and we're burnt of our blood along the earth, where our courage and our spirit have rebirthed,
01:09:16and we're burnt of our blood along the earth, where our courage and our spirit have rebirthed.
01:09:27The serpent came on us to haste and let's sing, the shape of my name, the shape of my name, the shape of my name,
01:09:38the shape of my name, the shape of my name, the shape of my name, the shape of my name, the shape of my name,
01:09:53the shape of the earth, where our spirit have rebirthed, and we're burnt of our way.
01:10:05Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our program.
01:10:11Thank you for sharing our national commitment to Holocaust remembrance.