WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden released a statement on Thursday, marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Jill and I will pause to mourn the six million Jews who were systematically and savagely murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust,” the President wrote in a statement, adding that he will “grieve the Roma and Sinti, Slavs, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and political dissidents who were also killed.”
“As we join nations around the world in bearing witness to this dark chapter in our shared history, we also honor survivors and their stories—pledging to always remember, and to keep faith with that sacred vow: “never again,” Biden said in a statement.
Lessons from the Holocaust
““Never again” was a promise my father first instilled in me at our family dinner table, educating me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah,” Biden’s statement reads. “It’s a lesson I’ve passed on to my own children and grandchildren by taking them to Dachau to understand for themselves the depths of this evil—and the complicity of those who knew what was happening, yet said nothing. Seeing neo-Nazis and white nationalists march from the shadows in Charlottesville in 2017, spewing the same antisemitic bile we heard in the 1930s in Europe, drove me to run for president.”
Addressing the current situation in the US, Biden wrote that “sadly, we have seen over and over again that hate never goes away. It only hides—waiting to reemerge whenever it is given just a little bit of oxygen.”“Today, across our country, we are seeing swastikas on cars, antisemitic banners on bridges, verbal and physical attacks against Jewish businesses and Jewish Americans – even Holocaust denialism,” he wrote. “It’s vile. It goes against everything we value as Americans. And each of us must speak out against this poison. Together, we must affirm, over and over, that hate has no safe harbor in America.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement as well. “We honor the survivors among us who bear witness and inspire us all to stand against antisemitism and other forms of hate in our world,” he wrote. “As the survivor generation passes into history, we must find new ways to educate future generations about the Holocaust.”
“The testimonies of survivors and their descendants remind us to be vigilant in defending the dignity and human rights of all,” said Blinken. “This solemn day of remembrance underscores the need to condemn and counter Holocaust denial and distortion – forms of antisemitism – wherever and whenever they arise. Holocaust denial and distortion are affronts to the memory of the murdered.”
He went on to say that on this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, “we resolve to counter lies with facts and hatred with action in service of our common humanity. Today and every day, we impart the solemn lesson of Never Again.”
On Thursday, the Sephardic Heritage International DC held a ceremony at the US Senate, to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Several members of Congress from both Parties, and diplomats from some eight countries, including Israel, Japan and Turkey, attended the event.
Sinan Ertay, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, represented his embassy at the ceremony. “A commemoration in Washington is very important,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “The Senate, of course, as a beacon of democracy, is very important. And we, as the Turkish embassy, are very happy to be present here.”
Ertay also noted that his country co-sponsored the UN resolution in 2005 to designate January 27th as the Holocaust Remembrance Day.