Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26), co-chair of the Latino Jewish Congressional Caucus, released a statement mourning the death of David Schaecter, a Holocaust survivor and community leader.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of David Schaecter, a dear friend and Holocaust survivor.
I last had the privilege of meeting with David and his wife, Sydney Carpel, in May of this year in my Washington, D.C. office, along with Sam Dubbin, who works tirelessly on behalf of Holocaust survivors and their families.
David was one of more than 200,000 Holocaust survivors who lived to tell their stories, out of the six million Jews who were systematically murdered by the Nazis. He was a survivor of two Nazi concentration camps and a witness to the greatest act of antisemitism in human history. Eighty years ago, six million Jews were killed for no other reason than being Jewish.
David was born in a small town in what was then Czechoslovakia. At the young age of 11, he and his family were forced in cattle trains under inhumane conditions. By the time they arrived at Auschwitz, roughly 25% of the passengers were already dead or dying. Upon arrival, the Nazis separated David and his family. Tragically, the rest of his immediate family was murdered in concentration camps, and he lost more than 100 extended family members.
As President of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA and founder of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, David devoted countless hours to educating students nationwide about the horrors of the Holocaust and the global resurgence of antisemitism.
The horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, followed by the shocking wave of pro-Hamas protests on college campuses which intimidate and threaten Jewish students, should be a wake-up call that we have not succeeded in ridding the world of antisemitism. Clearly, we have work to do.
We must never allow David’s story, the story of other survivors, the memory of the six million Jews murdered, or the suffering of the hostages in Gaza to be forgotten. We must teach our children of the dangers of antisemitism so that such atrocities never happen again.”
Díaz-Balart has represented Florida’s 26th District in Congress since 2003 after serving previously in both chambers of Florida’s state legislature. He was born in Fort Lauderdale in 1961 and currently resides in Miami. Díaz-Balart is also an alumnus from University of South Florida with a bachelor’s degree.
