United States Holocaust Memorial Commission Statement on Signing H.R. 8081 Into Law.

I am pleased and honored to sign into law H.R. 8081, an act that authorizes the continuation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which was established by Executive Order 12169, October 26, 1979, and supplemented by Executive Order 12213, May 2, 1980.

The principal responsibility of the Council, under the leadership of the distinguished author and survivor, Elie Wiesel, is to create a permanent national memorial museum to commemorate the systematic, state-sponsored extermination of 6 million Jews and the murder of millions of other victims of the Nazi Holocaust. In addition to planning, overseeing construction of, and operating the memorial museum, the Council shall create and administer an educational and research foundation; establish a committee on conscience to warn of threats of genocide anywhere in the world; and encourage and sponsor appropriate annual observation of Days of Remembrance throughout the United States as a national commemoration of the Holocaust.

It is my hope and expectation that the memorial museum and other related programs assigned to the Council by this legislation should symbolize our national commitment to human rights and make us resolve that such a crime against decency, civility, and humanity never again be allowed to occur. This memorial should serve to remind us for all time that when any fellow human being is stripped of humanity, tortured, or defiled, or is victimized by terrorism, prejudice, or racism, that all human beings are degraded.

At this moment my thoughts return to May 1978, when a reception was held at the White House to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the State of Israel. On that occasion, I announced my intention to establish a commission to erect an appropriate national memorial to those who perished in the Nazi Holocaust, a memorial that would renew and refresh our commitment to human rights and human dignity everywhere. It is with this expectation in mind that I sign H.R. 8081.

I congratulate the congressional leadership, the congressional members of the Council, and the officers and members of the Council who made this legislation possible, and I look forward to the dedication of the national Holocaust memorial museum in the near future.