01.27.21

Durbin Recognizes Holocaust Remembrance Day on the Senate Floor

Durbin shared the story of a retired dentist & grandfather in the Chicago area, George Brent, who was 15 years old, living in Hungary with his parents & his little brother when the Nazis invaded Hungary

Durbin vows to work with the Biden Administration to pass the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act and address the significant threat of white supremacist violence

 WASHINGTON – On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), incoming Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recognized the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and vowed to work with the Biden Administration to finally pass his Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act in light of the insurrection that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, exactly three weeks ago today, and the anti-Semitic symbols and messages that were on display that day. 

“Seventy-six years ago today, scouts from the Soviet Red Army, pushed their way through Poland.  They stumbled on a place that haunts the world to this day – a place of incomprehensible suffering, cruelty, and depravity, Auschwitz.  Auschwitz was the largest of Nazi Germany’s death camps.  Forty sprawling acres of hell on earth,” Durbin said.  “Three weeks ago today on January 6, 2021, an angry mob attacked this Capitol building and this Congress as we gathered to fulfill our Constitutional obligation to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election… For many, the most painful image of that day was of a middle-aged white man proudly wearing a sweatshirt that read:  ‘Camp Auschwitz’ and then the words:  ‘Work makes you free’ – a translation of the cruel slogan atop the black iron gates leading into Auschwitz concentration camp.” 

In his speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also shared the story of a retired dentist and grandfather in the Chicago area, George Brent, who was 15 years old, living in Hungary with his parents and his little brother when the Nazis invaded Hungary on March 19, 1944.  Dr. Brent was shipped to three different concentration camps over the course of the war, including Auschwitz.  In October 1949, Dr. Brent moved to America and lived with his great-uncle, who owned a small grocery store on the Southside of Chicago. 

In May 1950, seven months after arriving in the U.S., Dr. Brent enlisted in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and served two years during the Korean War.  After the war, Dr. Brent married and raised a family.  He graduated from the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in Chicago.  He would go on to teach at the dental school for the next 29 years and practice dentistry for 50 years.  After he retired in 2010, he became a volunteer lecturer at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, where he tells his story mostly to children.

“For one retired dentist and grandfather in the Chicago area, the despicable hate symbols shown during the Capitol insurrection – and the chants of ‘Jews will not replace us’ three years earlier in Charlottesville – were shocking reminders.  George Brent is 91 years old, but was in Hungary when he and his brother saw the Nazis invasion in 1944,”Durbin said.  “George Brent is a proud American.  He is not a political man.  But when he saw the clothing and symbols at the Capitol siege glorifying the murderous Nazi regime, he was outraged.   How could this happen in America, he asked?”

Durbin concluded, “One effort that I believe is needed – in fact, it’s long overdue – is for Congress to pass legislation aimed at addressing the significant threat of domestic terrorism—domestic homegrown American terrorism.  That’s why I’ve introduced theDomestic Terrorism Prevention Act in each Congress since 2017.  I’ll be reintroducing it soon in this Congress… We cannot waste another moment. Congress has to act against this hate-fueled extremism.  As the incoming Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’m going to hold hearings on this matter… I will work to pass this bill and to get President Biden to sign it into law.  And as I do, I will remember George Brent.”

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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