02.03.11

Durbin Named to Holocaust Memorial Council

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) has been named to the Holocaust Memorial Council, the board of trustees for United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

“It is a great honor to serve on the Holocaust Memorial Council,” Durbin said. “The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is not only a place for remembering the millions of people who lost their lives to the Holocaust, it is also a place to teach a new generation about the mistakes of the past, so they can lead the world to a brighter future. I’m pleased to be able to help the Council and the Museum achieve those goals and thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for nominating me to this important position.”

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a national institution for the study of Holocaust history, and it is the nation’s memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust.

The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.

In addition to the being the Assistant Majority Leader, Durbin has served as the Chairman of the Human Rights and the Law Judiciary Subcommittee since 2007. Durbin is the author of the Genocide Accountability Act, which gives the U.S. government the power to prosecute anyone who commits genocide anywhere in the world. He is also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.