Congressman Cohen Observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the United Nations
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) travelled to New York to attend the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony today as one of two invited members of Congress. The event in the General Assembly Hall, marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp by forces of the Soviet Union in 1945.
Congressman Cohen made the following statement after the event:
"Attending today's Holocaust Memorial at the United Nations was inspiring. The stories told by the two survivors, who were separated from their families and endured unimaginable cruelty, were harrowing. U.N. Secretary-General Guterres joined other speakers in noting that education about this period in history is essential to preventing a repeat of such outrages. It made me proud to have helped create the Tennessee Holocaust Commission in 1984, one of the first and best recognized, when I was a state senator. It's important for people to remember that these atrocities occurred. One speaker, while recognizing the greatest victims of Nazi genocide were Jews, reminded us that the Roma were also targeted, and that we should recognize the humanity in all races and sects."
Today's memorial service was hosted by Melissa Fleming, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. Speakers included United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; the permanent representatives of Germany, Israel, Russia and the United States to the United Nations; Dan Pavel Doghi, senior advisor on Roma and Sinti issues with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights; Holocaust survivors Shraga Milstein and Irene Shashar; and Judge Theodor Meron, the former president of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Rabbi Arthur Schneier recited Kaddish and Cantor Shulem Lemmer recited the memorial prayers. Violinist Itzhak Perlman delivered a musical contribution.