Statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day

April 16, 2015

Today, with heavy hearts, we remember the 6 million Jews and the millions of other victims of Nazi brutality who were murdered during the Holocaust.

Yom HaShoah is a day to reaffirm our responsibilities to ourselves and future generations. It is incumbent upon us to make real those timeless words: "Never forget. Never again." Yet, even as we recognize that mankind is capable of unspeakable acts of evil, we also draw strength from the survivors, the liberators, and the "righteous among nations" who represented humanity at its best.

With their example to guide us, together we must firmly and forcefully condemn the anti-Semitism that is still far too common today. Together, we must stand against bigotry and hatred in all their forms. And together, we can leave our children a world that is more just, more free, and more secure for all humankind.