Mr. Speaker, today we will take part in an act of solemn remembrance for the millions of victims who perished at the hands of the Nazi regime.
Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass”, took place on November 9, 1938. This act of destruction gave official sanction to persecution, humiliation, deprivation and eventually the systemic and organized murder of nearly six million Jewish people.
While the Nazi machine geared up, the nations of the world gathered in Evian, France to consider what actions might be taken.
Tragically, the conference took on its own measure of infamy in that it broke up early with no resolve to act at all. Hitler's spies returned to say, “You can do what you want with the Jews, no one wants them”.
That is precisely why we must gather and stand with our Jewish friends and survivors in the spirit of zakar, remembrance, and reaffirm our commitment to fight racism and hatred wherever it is found.
As the Prime Minister wrote after his recent visit to Auschwitz:
We are witness here to the vestiges of unspeakable cruelty, horror and death. Let us never forget these things and work always to prevent their repetition.