2005-02-10-Lantos-Auschwitz
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 Harrison
Weblog
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Lantos places speeches by Annan, Wolfowitz
on Auschwitz liberation in Congressional Record
jewishsightseeing.com, Feb. 10, 2005
holocaust file
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2005-02-10-Lantos-Auschwitz |
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U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), a Holocaust survivor, placed into the Congressional Record on Feb. 8 speeches made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at the special United Nations commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberaiton of Auschwitz. (See previous story) He praised Annan for "the key role that he played in the convening of this meeting, He personally fought to hold this meeting, and I am certain that without his leadership it would not have taken place. "The Secretary General has a special family link to the Holocaust that my wife Annette and I share," Lantos added. "Kofi Annan's wife Nan is the niece of Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat and humanitarian who came to Budapest, Hungary, in the summer of 1944 at the request of the United States to save the lives of Jews who were being sent to Auschwitz to be sent to the gas chambers. Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews, and among those are my wife Annette and me." Lantos singled out one comment in particular in Annan's address to the General Assembly: ``The United Nations must never forget that it was created as a response to the evil of Nazism, or that the horror of the Holocaust helped to shape its mission.'' From the "outstanding" speech by Wolfowitz, a fellow member of the Jewish community, Lantos excerpted this passage: "We are here to reflect on ..... how totalitarian evil claimed millions of precious lives. But just as important, the member nations attending today are affirming their rejection of such evil and making a statement of hope for a more civilized future, a hope that `never again' will the world look the other way in the face of such evil." —Donald H. Harrison |
