Congress members join Holocaust survivors in reading names of the murdered

• Published date: 29 April 2022
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

Rep. Brad Schneider, a Jewish Illinois Democrat who spearheaded the event, said in remarks that the need to commemorate now was made more acute by the atrocities taking place in Russia's war against Ukraine

"A million and a half children died in the Holocaust," Schneider said after the name readings, becoming emotional. "We make sure to remember today so the world knows what is happening in Ukraine."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among those reading names, in her case of families of her Bay Area constituents. She also recalled the role of her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., a Democratic congressman from Baltimore who called out the Roosevelt administration for not doing enough to intervene on behalf of the Jews during the Holocaust.

This is only the second such a gathering; the first was in 2019 and in subsequent years they were suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The event was held a day before Yom Hashoah because lawmakers are often on their way back to their Districts toward the end of the week.

Schneider said in an interview that he is stopped frequently in his district, which has a substantial Ukrainian American population, because of heightened awareness of the atrocities in the country.

"I wear an on with a Ukrainian flag and an American flag, and I get stopped more times than I can count, every day," he said. "Not just people with direct connections to Ukraine, people with connections to Rwanda, to the Uyghurs."

The six Holocaust survivors speaking...