WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Intolerance for Organization Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, and author of the Responding to Urgent Needs of Survivors of the Holocaust Act or the ‘‘RUSH Act,” released the following statement observing Yom HaShoah or Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day:
“It has been almost a full lifetime since the end of the Holocaust. For the Survivors among us, and the children blessed to be born to Survivors, the horrors are personal, not part of history. Every year, people of all faiths and creeds observe Yom HaShoah, and we vow ‘Never Again.’
“Now more than ever, it is important that we act on that solemn vow. Around the world, across the country and right here in Maryland anti-Semitism is on the rise. We owe it to those who perished during the Holocaust and those who survived to never let the hate that enabled the murder of so many millions of innocents to prevail. We, The United States, have an obligation, at home and abroad to stand against the codification of hate. We have an obligation to denounce, with a united voice, systematic violence targeted against minority groups. We have an obligation to show the Survivors of the worst human rights abuses in the 20th Century that their suffering has elevated ‘Never Again’ from mere words to a staple of our foreign and domestic policy.
“And so today, we remember those who perished, we remember the heroism and strength of those who endured the suffering of the Holocaust, and in their names I say a special prayer.”
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