| R 065 |
| 2023 -- H 5246 Enacted 01/26/2023 |
| H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N |
| COMMEMORATING “INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY” ON JANUARY 27, 2023 |
Introduced By: Representatives Ackerman, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Knight, Boylan, Finkelman, Ajello, Kislak, Corvese, and Chippendale |
| Date Introduced: January 26, 2023 |
| WHEREAS, The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, is the term used to refer to the |
| period in world history from 1933 to 1945, before and during World War II, when Adolf Hitler |
| and the Nazis systematically and barbarically persecuted and murdered nearly six million Jews |
| and another five million non-Jews throughout Europe because they were perceived to be "racially |
| inferior" and "life unworthy of life"; and |
| WHEREAS, On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more |
| than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying. Shortly thereafter, other Allied |
| forces liberated the remaining concentration camps, freeing thousands of additional suffering and |
| starving prisoners. By the time these liberations occurred, roughly two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish |
| population had been systematically and heinously murdered; and |
| WHEREAS, In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution |
| designating January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to mark the anniversary |
| of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and to honor the six million Jewish victims of the |
| Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism; and |
| WHEREAS, This year marks the 78th year anniversary of the end of the infamous and |
| brutal killing grounds of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau and Belson but across our nation, anti- |
| Semitic hate crimes continue and are rising with messages and incidents of racial, ethnic, and |
| social intolerance leading to senseless acts of violence that continue to terrorize and marginalize |
| the more than 18,750 members of the Jewish faith living in Rhode Island; and |
| WHEREAS, Anti-Semitic malevolent attacks are an assault on the humanity of all the |
| people in our State. In the words of famed writer Elie Wiesel, "There may be times when we are |
| powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Rhode |
| Islanders and people of all nations must take the time to remember the millions of men, women |
| and children who were slaughtered simply because of their beliefs and their heritage, or their |
| strengths or their frailties, and we must firmly avow that the atrocities of the Holocaust will never |
| be repeated; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby |
| commemorates "International Holocaust Remembrance Day" on January 27, 2023. We call upon |
| our fellow citizens to join us in remembering and honoring the amazing courage and the |
| enormous sacrifices of all those killed during the Holocaust. We moreover reaffirm our pledge to |
| work to eradicate bigotry, prejudice, brutality and injustice through education and vigilance and |
| we stand united in rejecting and condemning vile and intolerable acts of anti-Semitism and |
| hatred. In the words of Harvard philosophy professor George Santayana, “Those who cannot |
| remember the past are condemned to repeat it”; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the United States Holocaust Museum, the |
| Rhode Island Holocaust Museum, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Jewish |
| Community Center of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Israel Collaborative. |
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| LC000334 |
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