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Steny H. Hoyer
04/24/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/24/2025 18:54
Hoyer Statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day
WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) released the following statement today on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah:
"This year marks eight decades since Allied forces broke open the gates of Auschwitz and Dachau, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen, among numerous other Nazi concentration camps across Europe. What they saw inside forever changed not only them but our understanding of humanity itself. Their arrival came too late for the 6 million Jews and 5 million others who were murdered in the Nazis' genocidal campaign. Although they could not save those already lost, the liberators and survivors of the camps made a pledge: never again.
"On Yom HaShoah, we reaffirm that commitment. This year, we do so at a time when the same antisemitic hate, prejudice, and violence that fueled the Holocaust is skyrocketing in America and beyond. Billionaires have made Nazi salutes at presidential rallies. Individuals with known histories of antisemitism and ties to neo-Nazi organizations have found influence in the administration. Certain books about the Holocaust have been removed from libraries at the U.S. Naval Academy and other institutions. An arsonist set the home of a Jewish governor ablaze. All of these acts come after years of rampant antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' brutal October 7 attack on Israel.
"Antisemitism ought to concern all of us because it endangers all of us. It threatens not only Jews but democracy itself. The rise of Nazi fascism was intertwined with antisemitism. Failing to stand up to antisemitism - to the people who downplay, deny, distort, or even glorify the Holocaust - creates a hotbed for authoritarianism. Never again demands that we never sit by when we see hate threaten human rights, democracy, and freedom."
"This year marks eight decades since Allied forces broke open the gates of Auschwitz and Dachau, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen, among numerous other Nazi concentration camps across Europe. What they saw inside forever changed not only them but our understanding of humanity itself. Their arrival came too late for the 6 million Jews and 5 million others who were murdered in the Nazis' genocidal campaign. Although they could not save those already lost, the liberators and survivors of the camps made a pledge: never again.
"On Yom HaShoah, we reaffirm that commitment. This year, we do so at a time when the same antisemitic hate, prejudice, and violence that fueled the Holocaust is skyrocketing in America and beyond. Billionaires have made Nazi salutes at presidential rallies. Individuals with known histories of antisemitism and ties to neo-Nazi organizations have found influence in the administration. Certain books about the Holocaust have been removed from libraries at the U.S. Naval Academy and other institutions. An arsonist set the home of a Jewish governor ablaze. All of these acts come after years of rampant antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' brutal October 7 attack on Israel.
"Antisemitism ought to concern all of us because it endangers all of us. It threatens not only Jews but democracy itself. The rise of Nazi fascism was intertwined with antisemitism. Failing to stand up to antisemitism - to the people who downplay, deny, distort, or even glorify the Holocaust - creates a hotbed for authoritarianism. Never again demands that we never sit by when we see hate threaten human rights, democracy, and freedom."