NEW YORK – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), author of the Never Again Education Act, released the following statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Congresswoman’s Never Again Education Act was signed into law last year after passing the House with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 393-5 and a unanimous vote in the Senate.

“This International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks 76 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. As we remember all those murdered, we must also take action. We must renew and strengthen our promise of ‘Never Again.’

“In recent years we have seen an alarming increase in antisemitic attacks in my home city of New York, across the country, and around the world. The Anti-Defamation League reported an all-time high of antisemitic incidents in 2019 since the group starting tracking incidents in 1979. They recorded 2,100 acts of antisemitism which led to five deaths with a 56% increase in assaults from 2018. The statistics from 2020 have not yet been released but I can tell you, from personal experience in New York City, that these incidents are still happening.

“Just a few weeks ago – on January 6 – we saw insurrectionists take over our nation’s Capitol building in shirts that read ‘6 million was not enough’ and ‘Camp Auschwitz.’

“Antisemitism is not a thing of a past – it is not relegated to the history books and the 1940s, it did not disappear with the defeat of Hitler and his Nazis.

“It is not enough to condemn these attacks and disgusting behaviors. We need to get to the root of the hate, denial, and intolerance that allow and incite these behaviors. We do this through education. Our children – our students – are not born with hate. Prejudice and discrimination are learned behaviors. And it is up to us to make sure our children never learn them.

“I am proud to have passed the Never Again Education Act into law last Congress, in the most divided of Congresses I have seen in my lifetime, with such overwhelming bipartisan support. Now, we get to work. With the program now in the capable hands of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, I look forward to working with their team to help in any way I can.”