Condemning the violent attack on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009 and honoring the bravery and dedication of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum employees and security personnel.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 529 and with deep regret that this measure is necessary. I am saddened deeply by the tragic events that took place yesterday at the United States Holocaust Museum. Especially upsetting was the loss of Mr. Stephen Tyrone Johns, who loyally served and protected those visiting the Holocaust Museum for six years. Mr. Johns was known as a warm, friendly individual who was well-respected by his colleagues. My sincerest condolences and my most heartfelt prayers are with his family and friends, whose lives have been devastated so unfairly.

While yesterday's violence appears to have been the act of single individual, similar actions rooted in hatred and intolerance are not unknown to our society or our local communities. I am distressed by a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League, which indicated that my own state of New Jersey experiences the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in the country. The persistence of these unacceptable acts throughout our nation indicates that the sinister notions of anti- Semitism, racism, and intolerance continue to plague our society. The Holocaust Museum stands as a testament to the tragedy and suffering that can occur when hatred goes unchallenged and turns to violence. It is also a place to reflect upon tremendous bravery and heroism. Yesterday's events, and the sacrifices made by Mr. Johns and his loved ones, are a profound reminder that we cannot be complacent. We must remain vigilant against prejudice and work together to promote peace and tolerance in our hometowns, across the nation, and around the world.

Finally, I would note that yesterday's events bring to mind the stirring call to action by President Obama at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony in April, and I ask that they be printed in the Record in their entirety.

Remarks by the President at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony,

United States Capitol, Washington, DC.

The President. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you very

much. To Sara Bloomfield, for the wonderful introduction and

the outstanding work she's doing; to Fred Zeidman; Joel

Geiderman; Mr. Wiesel--thank you for your wisdom and your

witness; Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Senator Dick Durbin; members

of Congress; our good friend the Ambassador of Israel;

members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council; and

most importantly, the survivors and rescuers and their

families who are here today. It is a great honor for me to be

here, and I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to address

you briefly.

We gather today to mourn the loss of so many lives, and

celebrate those who saved them; honor those who survived, and

contemplate the obligations of the living.

It is the grimmest of ironies that one of the most savage,

barbaric acts of evil in history began in one of the most

modernized societies of its time, where so many markers of

human progress became tools of human depravity: science that

can heal used to kill; education that can enlighten used to

rationalize away basic moral impulses; the bureaucracy that

sustains modern life used as the machinery of mass death--a

ruthless, chillingly efficient system where many were

responsible for the killing, but few got actual blood on

their hands.

While the uniqueness of the Holocaust in scope and in

method is truly astounding, the Holocaust was driven by many

of the same forces that have fueled atrocities throughout

history: the scapegoating that leads to hatred and blinds us

to our common humanity; the justifications that replace

conscience and allow cruelty to spread; the willingness of

those who are neither perpetrators nor victims to accept the

assigned role of bystander, believing the lie that, good

people are ever powerless or alone, the fiction that we do

not have a choice.

But while we are here today to bear witness to the human

capacity to destroy, we are also here to pay tribute to the

human impulse to save. In the moral accounting of the

Holocaust, as we reckon with numbers like 6 million, as we

recall the horror of numbers etched into arms, we also factor

in numbers like these: 7,200--the number of Danish Jews

ferried to safety, many of whom later returned home to find

the neighbors who rescued them had also faithfully tended

their homes and businesses and belongings while they were

gone.

We remember the number five--the five righteous men and

women who join us today from Poland. We are awed by your acts

of courage and conscience. And your presence today compels

each of us to ask ourselves whether we would have done what

you did. We can only hope that the answer is yes.

We also remember the number 5,000--the number of Jews

rescued by the villagers of Le Chambon, France--one life

saved for each of its 5,000 residents. Not a single Jew who

came there was turned away, or turned in. But it was not

until decades later that the villagers spoke of what they had

done--and even then, only reluctantly. The author of a book

on the rescue found that those he interviewed were baffled by

his interest. ``How could you call us 'good'?'' they said.

``We were doing what had to be done.''

That is the question of the righteous--those who would do

extraordinary good at extraordinary risk not for affirmation

or acclaim or to advance their own interests, but because it

is what must be done. They remind us that no one is born a

savior or a murderer--these are choices we each have the

power to make. They teach us that no one can make us into

bystanders without our consent, and that we are never truly

alone--that if we have the courage to heed that ``still,

small voice'' within us, we can form a minyan for

righteousness that can span a village, even a nation.

Their legacy is our inheritance. And the question is, how

do we honor and preserve it? How do we ensure that ``never

again'' isn't an empty slogan, or merely an aspiration, but

also a call to action?

I believe we start by doing what we are doing today--by

bearing witness, by fighting the silence that is evil's

greatest co-conspirator.

In the face of horrors that defy comprehension, the impulse

to silence is understandable. My own great uncle returned

from his service in World War II in a state of shock, saying

little, alone with painful memories that would not leave his

head. He went up into the attic, according to the stories

that I've heard, and wouldn't come down for six months. He

was one of the liberators--someone who at a very tender age

had seen the unimaginable. And so some of the liberators who

are here today honor us with their presence--all of whom we

honor for their extraordinary service. My great uncle was

part of the 89th Infantry Division--the first Americans to

reach a Nazi concentration camp. And they liberated Ohrdruf,

part of Buchenwald, where tens of thousands had perished.

The story goes that when the Americans marched in, they

discovered the starving survivors and the piles of dead

bodies. And General Eisenhower made a decision. He ordered

Germans from the nearby town to tour the camp, so they could

see what had been done in their name. And he ordered American

troops to tour the camp, so they could see the evil they were

fighting against. Then he invited congressmen and journalists

to bear witness. And he ordered that photographs and films be

made. Some of us have seen those same images, whether in the

Holocaust Museum or when I visited Yad Vashem, and they never

leave you. Eisenhower said that he wanted ``to be in a

position to give firsthand evidence of these things, if ever,

in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these

allegations merely to propaganda.''

Eisenhower understood the danger of silence. He understood

that if no one knew what had happened, that would be yet

another atrocity--and it would be the perpetrators' ultimate

triumph.

What Eisenhower did to record these crimes for history is

what we are doing here today. That's what Elie Wiesel and the

survivors we honor here do by fighting to make their memories

part of our collective memory. That's what the Holocaust

Museum does every day on our National Mall, the place where

we display for the world our triumphs and failures and the

lessons we've learned from our history. It's the very

opposite of silence.

But we must also remember that bearing witness is not the

end of our obligation--it's just the beginning. We know that

evil has yet to run its course on Earth. We've seen it in

this century in the mass graves and the ashes of villages

burned to the ground, and children used as soldiers and rape

used as a weapon of war. To this day, there are those who

insist the Holocaust never happened; who perpetrate every

form of intolerance--racism and anti-Semitism, homophobia,

xenophobia, sexism, and more--hatred that degrades its victim

and diminishes us all.

Today, and every day, we have an opportunity, as well as an

obligation, to confront these scourges--to fight the impulse

to turn the channel when we see images that disturb us, or

wrap ourselves in the false comfort that others' sufferings

are not our own. Instead we have the opportunity to make a

habit of empathy; to recognize ourselves in each other; to

commit ourselves to resisting injustice and intolerance and

indifference in whatever forms they may take--whether

confronting those who tell lies about history, or doing

everything we can to prevent and end atrocities like those

that took place in Rwanda, those taking place in Darfur. That

is my commitment as President. I hope that is yours, as well.

It will not be easy. At times, fulfilling these obligations

require self-reflection. But

in the final analysis, I believe history gives us cause for

hope rather than despair--the hope of a chosen people who

have overcome oppression since the days of Exodus; of the

nation of Israel rising from the destruction of the

Holocaust; of the strong and enduring bonds between our

nations.

It is the hope, too, of those who not only survived, but

chose to live, teaching us the meaning of courage and

resilience and dignity. I'm thinking today of a study

conducted after the war that found that Holocaust survivors

living in America actually had a higher birthrate than

American Jews. What a stunning act of faith--to bring a child

in a world that has shown you so much cruelty; to believe

that no matter what you have endured, or how much you have

lost, in the end, you have a duty to life.

We find cause for hope as well in Protestant and Catholic

children attending school together in Northern Ireland; in

Hutus and Tutsis living side by side, forgiving neighbors who

have done the unforgivable; in a movement to save Darfur that

has thousands of high school and college chapters in 25

countries, and brought 70,000 people to the Washington Mall--

people of every age and faith and background and race united

in common cause with suffering brothers and sisters halfway

around the world.

Those numbers can be our future--our fellow citizens of the

world showing us how to make the journey from oppression to

survival, from witness to resistance, and ultimately to

reconciliation. That is what we mean when we say ``never

again.''

So today, during this season when we celebrate liberation,

resurrection, and the possibility of redemption, may each of

us renew our resolve to do what must be done. And may we

strive each day, both individually and as a nation, to be

among the righteous.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States

of America.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 529) condemning the violent attack on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009 and honoring the bravery and dedication of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum employees and security personnel.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution places this body on record as condemning yesterday's violent attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, while also praising the bravery and sacrifice of those who defended against this attack. The resolution further recognizes the powerful and vital role that the memorial museum plays in the world and rededicates this Congress to assisting wherever possible in helping the museum to accomplish its mission of education and enlightenment.

First and foremost, let me join my colleagues in expressing our deep sadness and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Security Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. It is our hope that, despite what must be nearly unbearable grief, those who loved Officer Johns are also filled with enormous pride at the service he rendered during his distinguished career and the sacrifice he has now made.

Everyone involved in the tragic events of yesterday proved something about themselves. Officer Johns, along with the security and other emergency personnel who responded, proved that training, dedication and bravery in the face of life-threatening events can save lives.

Officer Johns in particular reminds us that there are those among us who volunteer to stand watch over us, even knowing that they are risking their own lives.

The perpetrator of yesterday's attack proved something as well. His actions demonstrate that ignorance and hatred still exist and too often lead to violence. By his actions, this man demonstrated that the very evil which led to the Holocaust, the very evil he had sought in the past to deny, still exists and still must be resisted vigilantly.

And going forward, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will prove something as well. There was a time when people with hatred in their hearts were powerful, a time when those who devalued others based on race or religion held in their hands the levers of power. Those days are over.

The museum has suffered a great loss, but the museum will continue in its important work. This attack has no power over the museum, its supporters or its mission.

Hatred can no longer beat back the forces of justice and equality. Whatever the dark aims of the attacker may have been, there is no question that he has failed, and those like him will always fail as long as organizations like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are standing.

I ask my colleagues to support this important resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 2 minutes to the main sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Klein).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from the District of Columbia, in whose district this terrible attack occurred, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Mr. Speaker, Officer Johns resided in the district of our next speaker, to whom I'm going to yield 2 minutes, the gentlelady from Maryland, Ms. Donna Edwards.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings).

I now yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California, Ms. Barbara Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California, Ms. Susan Davis.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Hank Johnson.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Driehaus).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada, Ms. Shelley Berkley.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio, Mary Jo Kilroy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to a valued member of our Committee on Natural Resources, the gentleman from American Samoa, Mr. Eni Faleomavaega.

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Jesse Jackson.

(Mr. JACKSON of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Jane Harman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Steve Cohen.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Gary Peters.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Schwartz).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Keith Ellison.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Diane Watson.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Eliot Engel.

Mr. Speaker, I would advise Mr. Hastings that I am prepared to close with one final speaker if he wishes to use the balance of his time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time to the sponsor of this resolution and commend him for the quickness with which he has brought this to the floor, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Klein).

Madam Speaker, yesterday, as ranking member of the Africa Subcommittee, I joined several colleagues at an important Foreign Affairs Committee meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe. It was an extraordinary opportunity to discuss Zimbabwe's progress towards democracy and away from dictatorship, its problems with hyperinflation, and multiple health crises, including cholera, and to obtain a fuller understanding of what additional steps the United States can take right now to help.

That meeting, however, occurred at precisely the same time that the House considered H. Res. 529, a resolution condemning the June 10th violent attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum, a despicable anti- Semitic act that killed Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. And as so eloquently articulated by so many of my colleagues yesterday during that debate, we salute Officer Johns for his bravery and his courage, and extend our deepest condolences to his family.

I rise today not only to express my support for H. Res. 529, but also to thank my good friend and colleague, Mr. Klein, for introducing it and for including me as a cosponsor.

Madam Speaker, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is a noble and vitally necessary attempt to remember and honor the victims of the Holocaust. The memorial itself is a witness to truth and the promotion of human dignity and tolerance.

Wednesday's attack on that museum by a crazed, hate-filled gunman is yet another chilling reminder that our society still harbors a dangerous collection of bigots and racists who hate Jews.

Unparalleled since the dark days of the Second World War, Jewish communities around the world are today facing violent attacks against synagogues, Jewish cultural sites, cemeteries and individuals. Anti- Semitism is an ugly reality that won't go away by ignoring it or by wishing it away. It must be combated with resolve and tenacity, and it must be defeated.

The sad and deeply troubling reality is that James von Brunn cannot be dismissed as an aberration, but is connected to a whole hate- promoting movement that results in violence against Jews in America and around the world on practically a daily basis.

The Anti-Defamation League recently issued its annual audit of anti- Semitic incidents. While the ADL is to be congratulated for its careful research on an unpleasant but absolutely necessary subject, the ugly facts that the report documents makes for painful reading.

In 2008, the ADL noted 1,352 reported incidents of vandalism, harassment, and physical assaults on Jewish people or Jewish-owned property nationwide. Sadly, and shamefully, my own State of New Jersey had more reported anti-Semitic incidents, 238, than any other State in the Union.

The attack on the Holocaust Museum is the most ominous aspect of this evil wave that we have seen worldwide and in our own country. The Holocaust Museum is a unique institution. It is a memorial, a museum, a center of Holocaust scholarship, and a promoter of tolerance and preventer of genocide. It is a very powerful symbol of the solidarity of America with those murdered in the Holocaust, and with the Jewish people as well.

Madam Speaker, at this critical moment, we need government officials at all levels to denounce, without hesitation or delay, every anti- Semitic act, wherever and whenever it occurs, no exceptions. At this moment, not to speak out enables the purveyors of hate. They never take a holiday. They never grow weary, nor should we.

Just as Mr. Brunn attacked the Holocaust Memorial Museum and murdered a courageous security officer tasked with its protection, Holocaust remembrance and tolerance education must dramatically expand, and we need to

ensure that our respective laws punish those who hate and incite violence against Jews.

Finally, if we are to protect our children from the evil of anti- Semitism, we must re-educate ourselves and systematically educate our children. While that starts at our homes, the classroom must be the incubator of tolerance as well. It seems to me that only the most hardened racist can remain unmoved by Holocaust education and remembrance. Only the most crass, evil and prejudiced among us can study the horrors of the Holocaust and not cry out: Never again!

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 529, condemning the violent attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum that occurred in shocking dimensions yesterday here in our Nation's Capital.

I want to single out my colleague in the majority, Ron Klein of Florida, for his swift and thoughtful legislative work in bringing this resolution to the floor and for allowing me to coauthor this bipartisan resolution before the House today. It has been my distinct pleasure to serve together with Mr. Klein as the cochairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force Against Anti-Semitism that was founded, I say with deep admiration, by the late Tom Lantos of California, who understood the importance of this body and this Nation speaking with one voice against the venom of anti-Semitism.

Today, we mourn the loss of Special Police Officer Steven Tyrone Johns, and I offer my personal condolences to his family. He lost his life while defending civilians, visitors and staff of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Officer Johns died upon arrival at the George Washington Hospital after being shot by an assailant with strong ties to white supremacist organizations. Officer Johns died while bravely defending museum visitors from around the world, and I honor his service and courage and the sacrifice that he exemplified. He will be remembered.

We rise today to condemn the violent attacks of yesterday that ravaged Washington, D.C.'s, permanent living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. For those who have visited, we know the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum serves as one of the world's leading authorities on the Holocaust. And let me say with no small measure of American pride, it has become an essential stop for every American visiting our Nation's Capital, with few exceptions.

It was dedicated on April 22, 1993, and has since welcomed nearly 30 million children, including 8 million schoolchildren and 85 heads of state.

The museum's mission is simply this: to ``advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.'' Anyone who has wandered those solemn hallways knows that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum accomplishes that mission.

This attack at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is a horrific reminder of the violence that can stem from unchecked hatred, intolerance, anti-Semitism, as well as the denial of history that is often manifested in that sentiment.

Let me be clear. No act of violence will ever diminish our determination to honor those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and neither will yesterday.

And as we condemn intolerance and racism in our Capital City, we should ponder today, Mr. Speaker, what anti-Semitic hatred and rage could mean on the international stage. I say with a heavy heart today, with the deepest respect for the families affected by yesterday's tragic events, we would do well, as a Nation, to reflect, if one man can walk in the Holocaust museum with a rifle, motivated by anti- Semitic rage and bring about violence and death, what could a nation, armed with the same anti-Semitic rage, do with a nuclear weapon?

The American people deserve to know that the same hatred that drove this one, lonely and deranged man to open fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, I believe, resides in the hearts of some of the most powerful leaders in an ancient nation of the world. And I am confident that when the time comes, this Congress, this government, this Nation, and our cherished ally, will do what is necessary to prevent a global manifestation of anti-Semitic violence.

The best way to honor the lives of victims of hatred is to stand in the path of those who would continue the violence. Let Officer Johns' sacrifice be an example for each of us in our personal lives, and an example for this Nation in the exercise of courage and determination in the defense of liberty on the world stage.

Let us stand in the path of hatred, come together as a Congress and a Nation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank all of those who are involved, Mr. Klein of Florida and members of the House Anti-Semitism Caucus and others, certainly the chairman of the committee, Mr. Rahall, and others for giving us an opportunity to speak on the floor to express our grief and our outrage over what happened yesterday.

When the news came to the Capitol of what had happened at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, we were shaken, shaken to the core that this could possibly happen.

The resolution today allows us to express some of the grief that we have and the strongest denunciation of the despicable hate crime perpetrated yesterday and to express our strong support for the work of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Some of us were there that rainy, rainy day when the Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated. Elie Wiesel spoke to us so profoundly about what it meant, not only in terms of memory and never forgetting what happened in the Holocaust, but what our responsibility is to the future. At the time the Bosnian crisis was happening. So while the Holocaust Memorial Museum is about something that happened in the past, it is a memorial and a reminder to us about ridding our societies of these kinds of attitudes.

So how ironic, how ironic that this person, this individual, would go into that museum with hate in his heart, a gun in his hand, and kill this beautiful man, Stephen Johns, who really gave his life. He guarded others with his life. And I would like to take a moment to pay special tribute to Stephen Johns, whose life was cruelly taken yesterday.

Stephen was known to his colleagues as ``a soft-spoken, gentle giant.'' Stephen loved his hometown football team, the Redskins, and he loved to travel across the United States. Sad to say--well, it was a happy moment for him--but sad that it was such a short time ago he had married and moved to Temple Hills, Maryland, just 10 minutes away from his mother.

Stephen died in the line of duty, doing his job to protect those who came to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. We honor him today. We honor his sacrifice and his service.

In the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, anyone who has visited there knows there is a flame that burns in remembrance to all who died in the Holocaust. It lights the room over a coffin of Earth gathered from the death camps, concentration camps, sites of mass execution and ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe and from cemeteries of American and European soldiers who fought and died to defeat Nazi Germany.

Engraved above the flame, it says, from Deuteronomy 4:9: ``Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw, and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life, and you shall make them known to your children, and your children's children.''

Today we commit to telling our future generations the truth shared at the Holocaust museum. This heinous act was committed at the entrance to sacred ground to us, the Holocaust museum, as I described, where some of the Earth was gathered from. This is a severe blow to all of us who care about these issues, and I would include that to be everyone in the Congress of the United States and in our great country and those throughout the world who promise never to forget.

So we commit never to forget, and we commit to continue our work to build a world free of hatred.

Again, I thank our colleagues for giving us a time to publicly mourn this horrible, horrible event; to extend our condolences to the family of that brave guard and also to acknowledge, like Stephen Johns, our own Capitol Police and many others who make this area safer for people to visit from all over the world, who make it safer for us to do our jobs here, who make it safer for the press to cover us, who make it safer for our staffs to work, we express our deep gratitude to them. For us, the words Gibson and Chestnut are forever ablaze in our hearts--two of those committed to guard the Capitol whose lives were taken over 10 years ago. We will add to that list Stephen Johns and never forget the sacrifice he made and never forget our responsibility again to end the world of hatred.