Rep. Ron Weinberg's Speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day
(As written/not necessarily delivered)
(Colorado State Capitol, May 6, 2024) -- Today, Representative Yaron "Ron" Weinberg (R-Loveland) took a moment of personal privilege to honor the victims of the Holocaust in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day. His comments, as written, are below:
"Today is Yom HaShoah, which means Holocaust Remembrance Day. Very simply, and in very short words, this was when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the United States Army in World War II.
As we drove home last night, while we were working in this building, I don't know if you caught it like I did but there was a sunset, and we were lucky enough to leave this building to where we could still see light when we walked through our doors at home. That was the start of Yom HaShoah, and will go all the way until today's sunset, nightfall.
I want to first and foremost say how grateful I am for my Republican colleagues that stand with me unanimously in support of the Jewish culture and the Jewish religion, unwavering through tireless attacks, they have been my crutch, and I am grateful for all of them.
This day is deeply significant to my family and to me, and for those of you who weren't here last year, Dafna Michaelson Jenet, then Representative, kind of sprung this day on me. I didn't know we did this type of thing in the House as a freshman, and I lost it. I didn't know I would ever get a chance to honor my
Saba Samech and Safta Silvia, who are both survivors of World War II and the atrocities of the Nazi regime.
Saba Samech was lucky enough to see the writing on the wall in the escape, went to Russia, literally fought on horseback against tanks with probably one bullet in his gun as he would mention quite frequently to me, and my Safta Silvia wasn't so fortunate, had both her parents shot in the back of the head in the street of Poland and her brother thrown into an oven. My name is Yaron Yechiel Weinberg. My father is Yoram Yaacov Weinberg, and my son is Yonatan Yoram Weinberg.
Today marks the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the camp at Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. Quote from the Death Camp, "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945."
As the world pauses to remember the greatest tragedy in human history, we must commit ourselves to opposing the murderous and racist ideology of anti-Semitism which led to the genocide and death of over six million Jews and 5 million others murdered during the Holocaust and to tell the world that we will never forget.
Today, we remember the lives lost during this incredibly dark period in human history. During the Holocaust, on average three thousand Jews were murdered every day, for five and a half years.
Jewish children of my generation including me, grew up seeing the dark numbers etched into the arms of friends, neighbors, and family. We heard the stories directly from survivors about the families they loved and lost, the unspeakable brutality they endured, and the freedom they felt so lucky to have secured here in the greatest country in the world, which is this United States of America.
It is our responsibility to keep their voices alive, to tell their stories, to be certain they know this history, and, most importantly, to absorb the lessons of the Holocaust so we can prevent future evil, inhumanity, and brutality.
It is critically important that we have come together to commemorate this solemn day, not just to remember the victims of the Holocaust killed by the Nazis in gas chambers, ovens, and concentration camps simply for being Jews; but also because history teaches us that we have a responsibility to confront bigotry, hatred, and intolerance wherever it seeks to exist.
When we remember the Holocaust, we look backward and forward. We look backward to remember those who perished, 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, every one of whom has a story and
loved ones who may have survived the horrors of the Holocaust but were left with the searing wounds of these losses. At the same time, we must look forward. We can't simply pledge never again"; we must live, "never again."
We cannot, and must not, ignore the stunning rise in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial across Europe, around the world and, increasingly, here at home in the United States, including the violent anti-Semitic attacks we are experiencing on our College campuses.
General Dwight D Eisenhower, who, at the time was the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, understood this responsibility. Upon receiving news of the concentration camps, he quickly visited for himself, stating: "The things I saw beg description. While I was touring the camp, I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and ruthlessness were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up 20 to 30 naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in position to give firsthand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda."
After his visit, General Eisenhower ordered the concentration camps to be visited by thousands of soldiers stationed off the front lines, as well as hundreds of German civilians, journalists, Allied forces, and Members of Congress, to ensure the truth reached the public.
By the end of the war, the Nazi regime had succeeded in murdering one-third of the Jewish people in Europe. Its capacity to perpetrate absolute evil and hatred was on a scale never before seen.
Today, this hatred continues to manifest itself in different contexts and ideologies. We all have an obligation to teach future generations about this evil, and to pledge, "Never Again."
If we held a moment of silence for every victim of the Holocaust we would be silent for eleven and a half years.
Only by remembering the lives lost and speaking out against intolerance in our own time can we live up to our legislative promise: Never again.
Never again shall we march like sheep to the slaughter.
Never again shall we sit and take orders.
Never again leave our sons and daughters.
Stripped of our culture Robbed of our names.
Violated Freedoms and thrown into flames.
Forced from our families, taken from our homes.
Moved from our god and then burned of our bones.
In the face of darkness, be the light. - NEVER AGAIN!"
Representative Yaron "Ron" Weinberg
House District 51
