Prisoners of fascist concentration camps, those who miraculously managed to escape Nazi persecution, and those who lost loved ones to the genocide of the Jewish people, along with members of Congress and honored guests gathered at the Capitol American to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
By tradition, the ceremony is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the armed uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, which began on April 19, 1943 – the Jewish people’s greatest heroic attempt to resist genocide.
Alfred Münzer was born in The Hague in November 1941. A Jewish boy was rescued from Nazi terror in the Netherlands by his parents’ friends, an Indonesian family who hid him in their home for several years. All this time, Alfred was not allowed to go out or even go to the window, and when the Nazis searched the house, he was hidden in a closet.
Alfred Münzer (3rd from left) with his foster family
“It is thanks to them that I am alive today. I spent three and a half years with them,” recalls Münzer. “Unfortunately, two of my sisters were denounced by the husband of a woman who agreed to take them in. He told the Nazis that his wife was hiding two Jewish children. My sisters were killed in Auschwitz when they were only five and seven years old. 1.5 million children were killed in the Holocaust. Both my parents were deported. My mother survived a total of 12 concentration camps. My father managed to live until the day his camp was liberated by the American army. But he was so emaciated from hunger and disease that he died two months later.
The memorial event in Congress took place against the backdrop of an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and many other countries around the world. Thus, according to the American Jewish human rights organization Anti-Defamation League, there were more than three thousand five hundred such cases in the United States in 2022, which is 36% more than the previous year.
“Today we say to the world that we will never forget that one of the greatest crimes against humanity was committed against the Jewish people,” Democratic Congressman Al Green told American media. “Our collective conscience must always keep the memory of what happened. Therefore, we have an obligation to condemn hate in all its forms, wherever it occurs, anywhere in the world and not just here in the United States, and also to condemn those who promote hate. This country has a great heritage. However, there is still a lot to do here. There are those who believe that the Jewish people are the cause of certain problems simply because they are the Jewish people. We must not tolerate such rhetoric.”
Paula Shapiro, director of civil rights and social justice for the American Bar Association, came to the ceremony to honor her grandparents who were victims of the Holocaust.
“I think our country is at a turning point because the tide of anti-Semitism is going to rise,” Shapiro said. – Therefore, it is very important that the House of Representatives has done everything to recognize the importance of the tragedy. And that’s why the American Bar Association recently passed a policy against anti-Semitism to ensure that our association supports the Jewish people and that there is no room for hatred.”
Ambassador Deborah Lipdstadt, U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, in her speech called hatred of Jews an attack on democracy, and also gave examples of how the anti-Semitism affects the life and daily life of the Jewish community:
“It is unlikely that there is a Jewish institution in Europe, the United States or other parts of the world that does not have guards at its doors. Many Jewish students choose colleges based on the safety of openly identifying as Jewish. Parents who used to let their teenagers go to school alone are now reluctant to do so. Some do not want to send their children to Jewish schools at all.”
The event was initiated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on April 22.
“In the 30 years since the museum opened, we have welcomed nearly 48 million visitors, including more than 130 heads of state,” said Diane Saltzman, one of the Museum’s directors. the Holocaust. – This represents nearly 2 million visitors a year, including half a million schoolchildren. The mission of the museum is to remember the Holocaust. We must all learn from this tragedy. This is the story of how mankind was defeated when the people turned against their fellow citizens. It is very important that this does not happen again. And so, for 30 years now, we have worked tirelessly to preserve the legacy, history and lessons of the Holocaust through the ages.
The museum’s collection includes approximately 13,000 artifacts, 49 million pages of documentary archives, 85,000 photographs from all countries affected by the Holocaust.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
