WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama stood Thursday with Jewish leaders at a solemn Holocaust remembrance in a Capitol hall, proclaiming: "Never again.”
Obama warned against what he called the dangers of silence, saying that every day, somewhere in the world people must resist the urge to turn away from scenes of horror, hate, injustice and intolerance.
All people, he said, must "fight the impulse to turn the channel” from TV images of suffering, the sort of inhumanity known not only in the time of Nazi Germany, but more recently in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Darfur.
Obama said that people cannot wrap themselves "in the false comfort that others’ sufferings are not our own.”
The president paid tribute to those who risked their own safety to help those targeted by the Nazis escape during World War II, including five rescuers from Poland who participated in a candle lighting ceremony Thursday.
He also cited stories of hope, in places where vicious conflict has given way to forgiveness.
"Our fellow citizens of the world, showing us how to make the journey from oppression to survival ... and ultimately to reconciliation,” Obama said. "That is what we mean when we say, ‘Never again.’”
by the associated press
Obama warned against what he called the dangers of silence, saying that every day, somewhere in the world people must resist the urge to turn away from scenes of horror, hate, injustice and intolerance.
All people, he said, must "fight the impulse to turn the channel” from TV images of suffering, the sort of inhumanity known not only in the time of Nazi Germany, but more recently in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Darfur.
Obama said that people cannot wrap themselves "in the false comfort that others’ sufferings are not our own.”
The president paid tribute to those who risked their own safety to help those targeted by the Nazis escape during World War II, including five rescuers from Poland who participated in a candle lighting ceremony Thursday.
He also cited stories of hope, in places where vicious conflict has given way to forgiveness.
"Our fellow citizens of the world, showing us how to make the journey from oppression to survival ... and ultimately to reconciliation,” Obama said. "That is what we mean when we say, ‘Never again.’”
by the associated press
