2023 -- H 5246

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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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

     Referred To: House read and passed

     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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