J 230: Commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2025

 Senate Resolution No. 230 BY: Senator MAYER COMMEMORATING International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2025 WHEREAS, From 1933 to 1945, six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust as a part of a systematic persecution and program of genocide to eliminate every Jew within the reach of the Nazi empire, and millions of other people also perished as victims of Nazism; and WHEREAS, January 27, 2025, marks the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp; and WHEREAS, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on January 27th each year, is a day set aside for remembering the millions of victims of the Holocaust; this date was designated by the United Nations General Assembly on November 1, 2005; and WHEREAS, In the resolution, it is stated that every member of the United Nations should honor the six million Jews, as well as those members of other minorities who perished in the Nazi genocide, and develop educational programs about this history to help prevent such atrocities in the future; and WHEREAS, Numerous commemorations are held in countries around the world, and speeches are presented at the United Nations and in Washington, D.C., Berlin, and London; Holocaust survivors are invited to participate in the solemn ceremony which is held at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp annually; and WHEREAS, Due to a Soviet military offensive near Krakow, the Red Army happened upon the camp and liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945; the liberation of the victims was practically unnoticed since the world's attention was focused on the Yalta Conference where the American, Russian, and British leaders decided the outlines of postwar Europe; and WHEREAS, The specific date in January was acknowledged on the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II in 1995; Germany became the first State to adopt January 27th as an official holiday, commemorating the victims of Nazism; and WHEREAS, In 2000, many European leaders agreed that more States should join the fight against antisemitism and racism; an agreement of all members of the European Union was reached in 2005; the next year, a Resolution, which was co-sponsored by 104 Member States, designated January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the first official ceremony took place in the Plenary Hall at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City; and WHEREAS, Solidarity among the nations around the globe is integral to the eradication of such atrocities against mankind; the world must never be allowed to forget the millions of innocent victims who lost their lives simply for being Jews or certain minority groups that were wrongly viewed as undesirables; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2025; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center.