2010 -- H 8041

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LC02445

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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2010

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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N

COMMEMORATING "HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY" ON APRIL 21, 2010

     Introduced By: Representatives Fox, Mattiello, and Watson

     Date Introduced: April 14, 2010

     Referred To: House read and passed

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     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) is a solemn day of

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remembrance honoring the victims of the Holocaust and those who showed resistance and

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amazing heroism during this horrendous period in our world history. The United States Holocaust

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Memorial Museum has designated this year’s theme to be Never Again: What You Do Matters;

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and

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     WHEREAS, Holocaust is the term used to refer to the period in world history from 1933

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to 1945, before and during World War II, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis systematically and

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barbarically persecuted and murdered nearly six million Jews and another five million non-Jews

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throughout Europe because they were perceived to be “racially inferior” and “unworthy of life”;

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and

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     WHEREAS, The infamous and brutal killing grounds of Auschwitz, Buchenwald,

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Dachau, and Bergen Belsen today house the unnatural quiet and ghostly calm of somber rows of

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sanitized barracks and rusting ovens, and stand as silent memorials to the six million Jews and

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eleven million total victims who succumbed to the deliberate Nazi program of genocide that was

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the Holocaust; and

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     WHEREAS, This year marks the 67th Anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

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and 47th Anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial to the Six Million. The citizens of Rhode

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Island, having our own rich heritage of resistance and intolerance for those who would trample

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individual liberty and dignity, applaud the courageous efforts of the ghetto residents for whom

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day-to-day survival was a relentless struggle. Their brave actions in April and May of 1943 stand

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as testimony to a rare and indomitable human spirit and extraordinary courage exhibited in the

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darkest hours of man’s inhumanity; and

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     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day to make a special effort to remember

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–Zachor. It is a time to applaud the men and women who endured and who bravely rebuilt lives

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that had been so cruelly shattered. It is also a time to acknowledge, with admiration, those heroes

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who risked and often lost their own lives in order to save others; and

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     WHEREAS, In the words of famed writer Elie Wiesel, “There may be times when we are

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powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Rhode

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Islanders and people of all nations must take the time to remember the millions of men, women,

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and children who were slaughtered simply because of their beliefs and their heritage, or their

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strengths or their frailties, and we must firmly avow that the atrocities of the Holocaust will never

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be repeated; now, therefore be it

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     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island Providence

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Plantations hereby commemorates “Holocaust Remembrance Day” on April 21, 2010. We call

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upon our fellow citizens to join us in remembering and honoring the amazing courage and the

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enormous sacrifices of all those killed during the Holocaust, and we reaffirm our pledge to work

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to eradicate bigotry, prejudice, brutality, and injustice through education and vigilance; and be it

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further

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     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to

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transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the United States Holocaust Museum, the

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Rhode Island Holocaust Museum, the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, and the Jewish

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Community Center of Rhode Island.

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LC02445

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