Sunday marked the beginning of the National Days of Remembrance which will continue throughout this week.  Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims.  The theme of this year's commemoration is Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters.  It was 65 years ago that U.S. Soldiers helped defeat Nazi Germany and liberate Holocaust survivors.  This week there will be trivutes to 120 liberators and soldiers from all around the country who encountered the Nazi concentration camps 65 years ago and who will be participating in the commemoration this week.

You can watch the live webcast of the National Days of Remembrance ceremony, which will tak place in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda this week on Thursday, April 15th at 11:30am.  General Petraeus, who led the 101st Airborne Division, a liberating division, will be the featured speaker.  There will also be related activities all week at the Museum.

To learn more about the National Days of Remembrance you can visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/?tr=y&auid;=6192029.  As a participant in a featured video on the website noted, "Don't forget the past.  You have to remember what happened.  You can't just be a bystander."