[DOCID: f:hc19ih.txt]





109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 19

 Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States 
 should observe the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a 
 Nazi death camp during World War II, and honor all the victims of the 
                   Holocaust, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 20, 2005

 Mr. Tancredo (for himself, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Wexler, Ms. 
 Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Pence, and 
Mr. Fossella) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States 
 should observe the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a 
 Nazi death camp during World War II, and honor all the victims of the 
                   Holocaust, and for other purposes.

Whereas Auschwitz, a death camp, was established by the Nazis in 1940 in Poland, 
        which was occupied by the Germans during World War II;
Whereas Auschwitz has become a notorious symbol of terror, genocide, and the 
        Holocaust throughout the world;
Whereas initially Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, and prisoners of 
        other nationalities were incarcerated at Auschwitz;
Whereas beginning in 1942, Auschwitz became the site of the greatest mass murder 
        in the history of humanity, which was committed against the Jews as part 
        of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's plan for the complete genocide of the 
        Jewish people;
Whereas countless Jewish men, women, and children deported to Auschwitz were 
        sent to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers immediately after 
        arrival while others were forced to endure inhumane conditions as they 
        awaited their eventual fate;
Whereas near the end of World War II, in an effort to remove the traces of the 
        crimes they had committed, the Nazis attempted to dismantle gas 
        chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, and burn documents relating 
        to those crimes, while prisoners capable of walking were forcibly 
        marched into the interior of the Reich;
Whereas on January 27, 1945, Allied soldiers liberated the camp and the 
        remaining prisoners left in Auschwitz;
Whereas recent polls suggest an appalling lack of knowledge worldwide about the 
        circumstances surrounding the Holocaust; and
Whereas public officials, teachers, parents, and others must take great care to 
        ensure that young people learn about this brutal chapter in human 
        history to guarantee that future generations will never permit the 
        grisly scene that Allied soldiers uncovered in January of 1945 at 
        Auschwitz to be replicated: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the people of the United States should observe the 60th 
        anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp 
        during World War II, and honor all of the victims of the 
        Holocaust;
            (2) the American people should express their gratitude to 
        the Allied soldiers whose service and sacrifice helped to 
        defeat Adolf Hitler and destroy the genocidal machinery the 
        Nazi regime had set in motion; and
            (3) teachers throughout the United States should educate 
        their students about what happened at Auschwitz and stress the 
        importance of the collective responsibility of humanity to 
        ensure that what happened at Auschwitz and other Nazi death 
        camps is never allowed to happen again.
                                 <all>