I also have the pleasure of serving as cochair of the Museums Committee and my husband and i have had a long and extremely meaningful relationship with the institution and museum which honors the victims of the holocaust and stands as a stark reminder to the importance and lessons of the holocaust and the relevance of those lessons to issues in conflict in todays world. The museum has also found compelling ways to engage many audiences, one that people would never expect, from every background, religious and political persuasion. While the engagement is grounded if holocaust history it serves as a powerful spring board to reflect on contemporary issues, especially genocide. It is a stark reminder that the notion of task is never ending at a time when hatred and systemetism is clear across the world and in the United States we must all stand up. When a time when soshl and rapid changing world magnified that hate the lessons of the holocaust are more challenging then ever and the museums
Evenings chairs, beth hifitz and jody and rod mackland. [applause] allan holt and the washington community. My home community. For this fantastic show of support for the museum and its campaign. I am the son of holocaust survivors. And i am also blessed. I just celebrated with my parents their 70th wedding anniversary. [applause] allan holt i grew up in the 1950s and the 1960s. Two events that i most remember from my early life were the legacy of the holocaust and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. In fact, one of the unforgettable moments of my new jersey childhood was witnessing first hand the horrible race riots in newark in so tonight these two strands of my life come together as we honor congressman john lewis. A very special american. [applause] holt a very special human being. As my parents would say, a true mensch. My parents have been in this country less than 20 years when the Civil Rights Movement began. They were probably unaware that the nazis often justified their ant
Most families, many have kids. And they used to do big jobs with big resource i didnt find it intimidating. And were pretty clever and resourceful i and trying to fige how to do things. While the army didnt help them, they didnt pay much attention to them either. To the extent they could come up with solutions, are pretty effective. At the beginning for the first five months the operation felt on its face over and over and over again to the point that general marshall wrote his protege, general eisenhower, in october of 1943 and said, you need to be very careful because people here are reading horrible newspaper accounts of damage in italy, by us, by the allies. And perceived proceed cautiously. General eisenhower didnt leave any special orders were necessary. He thought these men and women are part of a Civil Affairs division, and they have a job to do, military structure will work and people will Pay Attention to them. Time and time again it was a working. The monuments officers woul