US AG Garland hails America as a place of refuge for Jews fleeing Holocaust

US Attorney General Merrick Garland hails the role the US played as a refuge for Jews who fled antisemitism and the Holocaust.

Speaking on Holocaust Remembrance Day at the 30th Annual Federal Inter-Agency Holocaust Remembrance Program, Garland, who is Jewish, said his service was a tribute to the country that took in his family.

“Each of us came to the Department for different reasons. For me, it was to repay the debt my family owes to this country for our very lives,” Garland says.

“Before World War I, America gave my family refuge from religious persecution that allowed them to survive the Holocaust when World War II came.”

“My grandmother was one of five children born in what is now Belarus. Three made it to the United States, including my grandmother. Two did not make it. They were killed in the Holocaust,” he says. “If not for America, there is little doubt that the same would have happened to her.”

Garland also highlighted efforts to combat rising antisemitism in the US.

“Indeed, hate crimes against Jews comprised the majority of religion-related hate incidents reported in 2021,” he notes. “The Justice Department is doing everything in our power to combat the rise in hate-fueled acts and threats of violence.”

“We do this because we all know what happens when hate is allowed to take root. We do this to ensure that a tragedy like the Holocaust never happens again,” he says.