R 191
2018 -- S 2827
Enacted 04/24/2018

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N
COMMEMORATING "HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY" ON APRIL 12, 2018, AND RECOGNIZING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF ISRAEL'S ESTABLISHMENT

Introduced By: Senators Goldin, Miller, Raptakis, Ruggerio, and McCaffrey
Date Introduced: April 24, 2018

     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), is a solemn day of
remembrance honoring the victims of the Holocaust and those who showed resistance and
amazing heroism during this horrendous period in our world history. Seventy-three years ago,
Soviet forces and shortly thereafter, Allied forces, liberated Auschwitz and other concentration
camps, liberating thousands of suffering and starving prisoners; and
     WHEREAS, Holocaust 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, This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
and 54th Anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial to the Six Million. The citizens of Rhode
Island, having our own rich heritage of resistance and intolerance for those who would trample
individual liberty and dignity, applaud the courageous efforts of the ghetto residents for whom
day to day survival was a relentless struggle. Their brave actions in April and May of 1943 stand
as testimony to a rare and indomitable human spirit and extraordinary courage exhibited in the
darkest hours of man's inhumanity; and
     WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day to make a special effort to remember
Zachor. It is a time to applaud the men and women who endured and who bravely rebuilt lives
that had been so cruelly shattered. It is also a time to acknowledge, with admiration, those heroes
who risked and often lost their own lives in order to save others; and
     WHEREAS, On May 14, 1948, the people of Israel proclaimed the establishment of the
sovereign and independent State of Israel, and the United States government established full
diplomatic relations after Israel's first election in 1949; and
     WHEREAS, The establishment of the modern State of Israel as a homeland for the
Jewish people followed the destruction of much of European Jewry during the Holocaust; and
     WHEREAS, The desire of the Jewish people to establish an independent modern State of
Israel is directly linked to the existence of the historic kingdom of Israel established in the land of
Israel 3,000 years ago; and
     WHEREAS, Since its establishment 70 years ago, the modern State of Israel has rebuilt
the nation, forged a new and dynamic society, and created a thriving economic, political, cultural,
and intellectual life despite the heavy burdens of war, terrorism, and unjustified diplomatic and
economic boycotts against the people of Israel; and
     WHEREAS, The people of Israel, in the spirit of Israel's Declaration of Independence,
have established a vibrant, pluralistic, democratic political system, which includes freedom of
speech, association, and religion; a vigorously free press; free, fair and open elections; the rule of
law; a fully independent judiciary; and other democratic principles and practices; now, therefore
be it
     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island Providence Plantations
hereby commemorates "Holocaust Remembrance Day" on April 12, 2018. 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, and we reaffirm our pledge to work to eradicate
bigotry, prejudice, brutality and injustice through education and vigilance; and be it further
     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby recognizes the historic significance of the 70th
Anniversary of the reestablishment of the sovereign and independent State of Israel as a
homeland for the Jewish people; 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, Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island, Mr. Adam
Greenman, President and CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and Yehuda
Yaakov, Consul General of Israel.
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