Higgins recognizes Holocaust Remembrance Day

Congressman memorializes the lives lost and notes role of WNYer, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson in Nuremberg Trials

Congressman Brian Higgins spoke on the House Floor in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day, known as Yom Hashoah in Hebrew, a time to remember the heroism of the nearly 6 million Jews whose lives were lost under the Nazi Germany regime.

Higgins also highlighted the role of Western New York native and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who was appointed by President Truman to prosecute Nazi war criminals in the Nuremburg Trials. Jackson was raised as a child in southern Chautauqua County and worked as a young attorney in the cities of Jamestown and Buffalo. The new United States Courthouse in Buffalo was named for Jackson at Higgins' request.

Below is the text of Higgins' remarks:

"Mr. speaker: Tomorrow we commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"This day was established by the Israeli Parliament in 1951, and coincides with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

"Later Congress established annual 'Days of Remembrance,' which we also celebrate this week. Memorial and educational activities will take place in schools, places of worship and communities across this nation.

"This is a time to mourn the millions of victims of the Holocaust. And it is an annual reminder to Americans - and indeed to all humanity - that we must never forget the evil that man has visited upon his fellow man.

"It was a Supreme Court justice from Western New York, Robert H. Jackson, who served as the lead American prosecutor of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.

"In recognition of his work to expose the horrors of the Holocaust, we named the new federal courthouse in Buffalo in Jackson's honor.

"Tomorrow in Western New York and across the country Americans will memorialize the victims of the Holocaust. And we will pray for vigilance and the resolve to stop such evil from happening again."