WASHINGTON – Ahead of this year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered remarks at an event honoring the work and lives of the 60 diplomats who helped Jews fleeing the Nazis, as recognized by the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act.
“I want to thank the authors of the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act,” said Chair Cardin. “I want to thank you for a piece of legislation that puts a human face on the 60 diplomats who helped Jews fleeing the Nazis. The passports and travel visas they issued were responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe. Confronted by such violent antisemitism, they refused to compromise their values.”
Chair Cardin’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are available below.
Almost eight decades ago, the allied forces liberated Nazi concentration camps where six million Jews died. It was a crime so staggering that even today—all these years later—the global population of Jews has still not recovered.
As Ezra Klein says, “How much art, how much literature, how much genius—how much was lost?” I was 15 months old at the time, too young to remember the headlines. But even now that I’m older it is overwhelming to think of the scale and devastation of the Holocaust in human terms. So I want to thank the authors of the Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust Congressional Gold Medal Act. I want to thank you for a piece of legislation that puts a human face on the 60 diplomats who helped Jews fleeing the Nazis.
The passports and travel visas they issued were responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish families in Europe. Confronted by such violent antisemitism, they refused to compromise their values.
Today, in the aftermath of the terrible attack by Hamas, antisemitism has erupted around the world. It is a problem that’s often been in the shadows. But we now have people in the United States who are openly talking about getting rid of Jews. “From the river to the sea…”
I have been raising the alarm on this for a long time, but never in my life did I think I would see this. People are attacking Jewish businesses here in America, they are attacking Jewish students on college campuses in America. Of course, while antisemitism is in the spotlight now, it has always been a problem.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt is the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat antisemitism. She tells the story of the Congregation Beth Israel in Charlottesville in 2017. How the white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us.” It was a Saturday and they stood before the synagogue. The Rabbi looked out the window and said, “we’re canceling services.” “The Jews who were inside the synagogue snuck out the backdoor into the parking lot in groups of twos and threes.”
They didn’t want to be seen all leaving together. They even took the Torah scroll. She says, “It is the only instance in American history, any place, where Jews felt necessary to escape from a synagogue by the backdoor.” That is because of antisemitism pure and simple. And we cannot accept it. We cannot excuse it. We cannot be silent about it.
Those of us who understand the danger must combat hatred in all forms through education, law enforcement, and policy initiatives. We must correct disinformation and denialism about the dangers of prejudice.
Because learning the truth—learning about history—is the key to fighting intolerance. Today, on this commemoration of the Holocaust, let us remember those whose lives were lost, those who survived, and the diplomats that helped them escape to safety.
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