Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

President Issues Statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today President Biden issued a Statement (full text) calling attention to International Holocaust Remembrance Day which occurs tomorrow (the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by Soviet armed forces). The Statement reads in part:

Tomorrow ... we join nations around the world and pause to mourn one of the darkest chapters in human history, when six million Jews were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust during the 1930s and 1940s. We also grieve the Roma, Sinti, Slavs, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ individuals, racial minorities, and political dissidents who were abused or killed. And we honor the courage of survivors and the heroism of people who bravely stood up to the Nazis, risking everything to save innocent lives.

This year, the charge to remember the Holocaust, the evil of the Nazis, and the scourge of antisemitism is more pressing than ever. On October 7 Hamas terrorists unleashed pure, unadulterated evil on the people of Israel....

In the aftermath of Hamas’s vicious massacre, we have witnessed an alarming rise of despicable antisemitism at home and abroad that has surfaced painful scars from millennia of hate and genocide of Jewish people. It is unacceptable. We cannot remember all that Jewish survivors of the Holocaust experienced and then stand silently by when Jews are attacked and targeted again today. Without equivocation or exception, we must also forcefully push back against attempts to ignore, deny, distort, and revise history. This includes Holocaust denialism and efforts to minimize the horrors that Hamas perpetrated on October 7, especially its appalling and unforgiveable use of rape and sexual violence to terrorize victims.

Wednesday, August 09, 2023

FSIA Precludes Suit Against Hungary for Property Confiscated from Its Jewish Population In Holocaust

In Simon v. Republic of Hungary, (DC Cir., Aug. 8, 2023), in a case on remand from the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the government of Hungary may not be sued in United States Courts for taking of property from its own nationals. The court said in part:

In 1944, as World War II neared its end, the Hungarian government implemented an accelerated campaign to exterminate its remaining Jewish population. Within a matter of months, the government systematically executed over half a million Jews—roughly two-thirds of the Jewish population in Hungary at the war’s outset. This state-perpetrated genocidal campaign ranks among the greatest crimes in human history.

The questions raised by these appeals bear on whether survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust may hale the Hungarian government and its instrumentalities into United States courts to answer for a subset of the wrongs they committed—namely, their confiscation of property from victims of the Holocaust. The plaintiffs invoke the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s expropriation exception as a means to pierce the Hungarian state’s sovereign immunity and assert jurisdiction in federal district court. Defendants object that the exception is inapplicable....

Cognizant of the Supreme Court’s recent holding that “a country’s alleged taking of property from its own nationals” generally falls outside the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s expropriation exception ..., the plaintiffs in these suits assert they were not Hungarian nationals at the time of the takings at issue. They instead claim that they were either stateless or Czechoslovakian nationals. The district court dismissed the claims of the plaintiffs asserting statelessness but concluded that most of the plaintiffs asserting Czechoslovakian nationality could proceed. 

We largely affirm. Like the district court, we conclude that the plaintiffs claiming statelessness ... have not made out a recognized claim within a Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act exception....

We likewise affirm the district court’s denial of the defendants’ motions to dismiss the claims of some of the plaintiffs asserting Czechoslovakian nationality, with a few exceptions....

Judge Randolph dissented as to the plaintiffs claiming Czechoslovakian nationality.

 

Friday, May 19, 2023

Biden Announces Appointments to Holocaust Memorial Council

On Wednesday, President Biden announced the names of ten individuals whom he intends to appoint to the 68-member Holocaust Memorial Council. The President appoints 55 of the members. Presidential appointees serve five-year terms. Among the ten new appointees are Ted Deutch who is CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Michael Beals who is rabbi of a congregation in President Biden's home town of Wilmington, Delaware; and Jonathan Lavine who is co-managing partner of Bain Capital.

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

President Biden Issues Yom HaShoah Proclamation

President Biden yesterday evening at the start of Yom Hashoah issued A Proclamation on Days Of Remembrance Of Victims Of The Holocaust, 2023 (full text). It reads in part:

During Yom HaShoah and throughout these days of remembrance, we mourn the six million Jews who were murdered during the horror of the Holocaust — as well as the millions of Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQI+ individuals, and political dissidents who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators.  Together with courageous survivors, descendants of victims, and people around the world, we renew our solemn vow:  “never again.”...

Hate must have no safe harbor in America or anywhere else.  Today and always, we make our message clear:  Evil will not win.  Hate will not prevail.  And the violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time.  Together, we can ensure that “never again” is a promise we keep....

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 16 through April 23, 2023, as a week of observance of the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe this week and pause to remember victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

Friday, January 27, 2023

Today Is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp. The commemorative day was established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7, adopted by the General Assembly in 2005.  A European Union press release describes the EU's commemoration activities. U.S. President Joe Biden issued a Statement (full text) marking the day.  He said in part:

Sadly, we have seen over and over again that hate never goes away. It only hides—waiting to reemerge whenever it is given just a little bit of oxygen. And today, across our country, we are seeing swastikas on cars, antisemitic banners on bridges, verbal and physical attacks against Jewish businesses and Jewish Americans – even Holocaust denialism. It’s vile. It goes against everything we value as Americans. And each of us must speak out against this poison. Together, we must affirm, over and over, that hate has no safe harbor in America. 

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Today Is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day as designated by United Nations Resolution 60/7 (full text), adopted by the General Assembly in 2005.  January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Yesterday, President Biden announced the names of 12 individuals he intends to appoint to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.  As chair, he will appoint Stuart Eizenstat.

Friday, January 21, 2022

U.N. Adopts Resolution Condemning Holocaust Denial

The United Nations General Assembly yesterday adopted by consensus a Resolution (full text) that condemns Holocaust denial or distortion. The Resolution, among other things, calls attention to the role of social media in spreading disinformation and misinformation. A United Nations press release announcing the Resolution points out:

The vote comes on the same day, 80 years ago, during the Wansee Conference, when top Nazi officials discussed and coordinated the genocide of the Jewish people, establishing the system of Nazi death camps.

According to The Hill, Iran "disassociated" from the Resolution.

Sunday, April 04, 2021

Biden Issues Holocaust Remembrance Proclamation

Today President Biden issued a Proclamation (full text) designating April 4 through April 11 as Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust.  The Proclamation reads in part:

On Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day — we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people in America, Israel, and around the world to remember and reflect on the horrors of the Holocaust. An estimated six million Jews perished alongside millions of other innocent victims — Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others — systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in one of the cruelest and most heinous campaigns in human history....

I remember learning about the horrors of the Holocaust from my father when I was growing up, and I have sought to impart that history to my own children and grandchildren in turn. I have taken them on separate visits to Dachau, so that they could see for themselves what happened there, and to impress on them the urgency to speak out whenever they witness anti-Semitism or any form of ethnic and religious hatred, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia. The legacy of the Holocaust must always remind us that silence in the face of such bigotry is complicity — remembering, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, that there are moments when “indifference to evil is worse than evil itself.”

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Today Is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In a formal resolution adopted in 2005 (full text), the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 each year as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That date is the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The United Nations has posted a calendar of events that will mark this year's commemoration.  The United States Holocaust Museum will also be streaming programming to mark the day.

UPDATE: President Biden also issued a statement (full text), saying in part:

Today, we join together with people from nations around the world to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day by remembering the 6 million Jews, as well as the Roma and Sinti, Slavs, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ individuals, and many others, who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Shoah. We must never forget the truth of what happened across Europe or brush aside the horrors inflicted on our fellow humans because of the doctrines of hatred and division....

The United States will continue to champion justice for Holocaust survivors and their heirs. We are committed to helping build a world in which the lessons of the Holocaust are taught and in which all human lives are valued.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Facebook Will Ban Holocaust Denial

Yesterday Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is updating its hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial on its platform. He said in part:

[W]ith rising anti-Semitism, we're expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust...

I've struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust. My own thinking has evolved as I've seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech.

NPR has more on the decision.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Presidential Message On International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Yesterday the White House issued a Presidential Message on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2020. (Full text). It says in part:
This year’s annual observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is especially moving as we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz....
Unfortunately, there are still Jewish men, women, and children who face persecution and discrimination today.  To fight the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States, I issued an Executive Order in December of 2019 that will help combat racist, anti-Semitic discrimination.  Anti-Semitism will never be tolerated, and this action bolsters my Administration’s efforts to create a culture of respect that deeply values the dignity in every human life.

Friday, January 24, 2020

Pence Speaks At World Holocaust Forum

Vice President Mike Pence spoke yesterday at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem. (Full text of remarks.) The event, held at Yad Vashem, marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.  The vice-president said in part:
Through pogroms, persecutions, and expulsions in the ghettos, and finally, even through the death camps, the Jewish people clung to an ancient promise that He would “never leave you or forsake you” and that he would leave this people to inherit the land that he swore to your ancestors that he would give them.
And so, today, as we bear witness to the strength and the resilience and the faith of the Jewish people, so too we bear witness to God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people.
UPDATE: On Jan. 24, President Trump issued a Proclamation on National Day Of Remembrance Of The 75th Anniversary Of The Liberation Of Auschwitz, 2020.

Monday, October 07, 2019

European Court Says Conviction For Holocaust Denial Does Not Violate Free Speech Rights

In Pastors v. Germany, (ECHR, Oct. 3, 2019), the European Court of Human Rights in a chamber judgment rejected claims by the chairman of the National Democratic Party of Germany that his criminal conviction for a speech he gave in the Land Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania violated his free expression rights under Art. 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  Pastors was convicted of defamation and violating the memory of the dead for language in his speech denying the existence of the Holocaust.  The court said in part:
In the present case, the applicant intentionally stated untruths in order to defame the Jews and the persecution that they had suffered during the Second World War. Reiterating that it has always been sensitive to the historical context of the High Contracting Party concerned when reviewing whether there exists a pressing social need for interference with rights under the Convention and that, in the light of their historical role and experience, States that have experienced the Nazi horrors may be regarded as having a special moral responsibility to distance themselves from the mass atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis ..., the Court therefore considers that the applicant’s impugned statements affected the dignity of the Jews to the point that they justified a criminal-law response. Even though the applicant’s sentence of eight months’ imprisonment, suspended on probation, was not insignificant, the Court considers that the domestic authorities adduced relevant and sufficient reasons and did not overstep their margin of appreciation. The interference was therefore proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and was thus “necessary in a democratic society”.
... In these circumstances the Court finds that there is no appearance of a violation of Article 10 of the Convention. Accordingly the complaint must be rejected as being manifestly ill-founded in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 (a) and 4 of the Convention.
The court also issued a press release summarizing the decision.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Today Is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today-- January 27-- is the date designated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date is the anniversary of the liberation in 1945 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

British Musician On Trial For Holocaust Revsionist YouTube Postings

Press Association reported yesterday on the trial in Britain of musician Alison Chabloz who is charged with sending grossly offensive Holocaust Revisionist material on a public communications network.  Chabloz, who is being tried in the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, is charged with 5 counts growing out of her posting on YouTube of videos of three songs she wrote.  Chaboz's attorney is raising a free speech defense. The judge's verdict will be handed down on May 25.  Meanwhile Chaboz is out on bail.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Trump Issues Proclamation On Holocaust Remembrance

Today is Yom Hashoah (Holocaust  Remembrance Day).  Yesterday President Trump issued a Proclamation (full text) asking the people of the United States:
to observe the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, April 12 through April 19, 2018, and the solemn anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps, with appropriate study, prayers and commemoration, and to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution by internalizing the lessons of this atrocity so that it is never repeated.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Religious Freedom and Holocaust Envoys Escape State Department Cuts

In a move applauded by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has notified the Senate that he plans to pare down the number of Special Envoys in the State Department. According to CNN, Tillerson will eliminate or downgrade as many as 36 of the nearly 70 special envoy spots. However three special envoy offices will be expanded: those dealing with religious freedom, Holocaust issues and HIV/AIDS.

UPDATE: Here is the full text of Sec. Tillerson's letter to Sen. Corker. It details some of the changes as follows:
The Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom (IRF) will continue to be an ambassador-level position confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and will be organized under and report to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights (J). Additionally, IRF will assume the functions and staff of the U.S. Special Representative for Religion and Global Affairs, U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South/Central Asia.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Presidential Proclamations On Yom HaShoah and Meds Yeghern

Yesterday, which was Yom HaShoah, President Trump signed a Proclamation (full text):
ask[ing]  the people of the United States to observe the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, April 23 through April 30, 2017, and the solemn anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps, with appropriate study, prayers and commemoration, and to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution by internalizing the lessons of this atrocity so that it is never repeated.
The text of the Proclamation has been posted on Trump's Facebook page, but has not yet appeared on the White House website.

Yesterday the President also signed a Proclamation (full text) marking Armenian Remembrance Day. As pointed out by Hurriyet, consistent with past practice the Proclamation uses the Armenian term Meds Yeghern (Great Calamity) and avoids referring to the atrocities as a "genocide."

UPDATE: And here is the full text of President Trump's speech on Tuesday at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum National Days of Remembrance.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Even Trump's Statement on International Holocaust Memorial Day Is Not Without Controversy

Today is International Holocaust Memorial Day.  The day-- the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau-- was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly as the date for the international commemoration. CBS News reports on commemoration activities in various countries.  President Donald Trump issued a Statement (full text) marking the commemoration, saying in part:
It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.
Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League commented on the President's Statement in a Tweet, saying:
Puzzling and troubling White House Holocaust Memorial Day Statement has no mention of Jews. GOP and Democratic presidents have done so in the past.
Other media, such as the Washington Post and  Haaretz make the same point about Trump's statement.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Ten More Appointed To U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council

Yesterday the White House announced that President Obama has appointed ten more individuals to the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Perhaps the best-known among this group of appointees is Melissa Rogers who has served in the Obama administration as Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Also appointed was Sarah Hurwitz who has served as Michelle Obama's speech writer. Others appointed to the Council are: Daniel Benjamin; Michael Bosworth; Raffi Freedman-Gurspan; Samuel Gordon; Allan Holt; Edward Lazarus; Susan Lowenberg; and Maureen Schulman. Fifty-five members of the Council are appointed by the President for 5 year terms.

UPDATE: On Jan. 17 the President added one more appointee to the Holocaust Memorial Council-- Benjamin Rhodes who has been Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.