2023 -- H 6283
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LC002751
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
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 "HOLOCAUST REMEMBRAN CE DAY" ON APRIL 18, 2023
Introduced By: Representatives Ackerman, Finkelman, Knight, Kislak, McNamara,
Ajello, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Shallcross Smith, and Boylan
Date Introduced: April 18, 2023
Referred To: House read and passed
WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), is a solemn day of 1
remembrance honoring the victims of the Holocaust and those who showed resistance and 2
amazing heroism during this horrendous period in our world history. Seventy-seven years ago, 3
Soviet forces and shortly thereafter, other Allied forces liberated Auschwitz and other 4
concentration camps, liberating thousands of suffering and starving prisoners; and 5
WHEREAS, Holocaust is the term used to refer to the period in world history from 1933 6
to 1945, before and during World War II, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis systematically and 7
barbarically persecuted and murdered nearly six million Jews and another five million non-Jews 8
throughout Europe because they were perceived to be "racially inferior" and "life unworthy of 9
life"; and 10
WHEREAS, The infamous and brutal killing grounds of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, 11
Dachau and Belson, today house the unnatural quiet and ghostly calm of somber rows of sanitized 12
barracks and rusting ovens, and stand as speechless memorials to the six million Jews and eleven 13
million total victims who succumbed to the deliberate Nazi program of genocide that was the 14
Holocaust; and 15
WHEREAS, This year marks the 80
th
Anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 16
and 59
th
Anniversary of the dedication of the Memorial to the Six Million. The citizens of Rhode 17
Island, having our own rich heritage of resistance and intolerance for those who would trample 18
individual liberty and dignity, applaud the courageous efforts of the ghetto residents for whom 19
day to day survival was a relentless struggle. Their brave actions in April and May of 1943 stand 20
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as testimony to a rare and indomitable human spirit and extraordinary courage exhibited in the 1
darkest hours of man's inhumanity; and 2
WHEREAS, Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day to make a special effort to remember 3
Zachor. It is a time to applaud the men and women who endured and who bravely rebuilt lives 4
that had been so cruelly shattered. It is also a time to acknowledge, with admiration, those heroes 5
who risked and often lost their own lives in order to save others; and 6
WHEREAS, In the words of famed writer Elie Wiesel, "There may be times when we are 7
powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Rhode 8
Islanders and people of all nations must take the time to remember the millions of men, women 9
and children who were slaughtered simply because of their beliefs and their heritage, or their 10
strengths or their frailties, and we must firmly avow that the atrocities of the Holocaust will never 11
be repeated; now, therefore be it 12
RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby 13
commemorates "Holocaust Remembrance Day" on April 18, 2023. We call upon our fellow 14
citizens to join us in remembering and honoring the amazing courage and the enormous sacrifices 15
of all those killed during the Holocaust, and we reaffirm our pledge to work to eradicate bigotry, 16
prejudice, brutality and injustice through education and vigilance; and be it further 17
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 18
transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the United States Holocaust Museum, the 19
Rhode Island Holocaust Museum, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, the Jewish 20
Community Center of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Israel Collaborative. 21
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