PRINTER'S NO. 3577
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
849
Session of
2020
INTRODUCED BY FRANKEL, BURGOS, RYAN, A. DAVIS, ULLMAN, MURT,
HOHENSTEIN, BIZZARRO, TOEPEL, KINSEY, McNEILL, FREEMAN,
SAINATO, GREINER, JAMES, SOLOMON, SCHMITT, ROTHMAN, SAPPEY,
KAUFFMAN, RAVENSTAHL, PICKETT, KULIK, KORTZ, D. MILLER,
MILLARD, SCHLOSSBERG, HARKINS, McCARTER, STEPHENS, WILLIAMS,
BROWN, LONGIETTI, YOUNGBLOOD, BOYLE, HILL-EVANS, SAYLOR,
MENTZER, SANCHEZ, CIRESI, ROZZI, O'MARA, BRIGGS, STAATS,
McCLINTON, GALLOWAY, DONATUCCI, READSHAW, WARREN, HOWARD,
SCHLEGEL CULVER, SCHWEYER, KIRKLAND, NEILSON AND GAYDOS,
APRIL 17, 2020
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 17, 2020
A RESOLUTION
Designating April 19 through 26, 2020, as "Days of Remembrance
of the Victims of the Holocaust" and recognizing April 21,
2020, as "Holocaust Remembrance Day" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, The Holocaust, one of the darkest chapters in human
history, was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and
annihilation of the European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its
collaborators between 1933 and 1945; and
WHEREAS, During the Holocaust, 6 million Jews were murdered,
many by bullets from the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units)
or in the gas chambers of the concentration camps; and
WHEREAS, The word "Holocaust" is Greek in origin and means
"sacrifice by fire"; and
WHEREAS, The Nazi's suspension of basic civil rights occurred
within days of Hitler's accession to power in January 1933; and
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WHEREAS, From 1933 until the outbreak of war in 1939, the
first six years of Adolph Hitler's dictatorship in Germany, Jews
felt the effects of more than 400 decrees and regulations that
restricted all aspects of their public and private lives; and
WHEREAS, In 1933, the Jewish population in Europe was
estimated to be more than 9 million; and
WHEREAS, By 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators killed
nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of their
"Final Solution"; and
WHEREAS, Millions of other individuals, including Roma
(Gypsies), individuals with disabilities, gays and lesbians,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, political
dissidents and nearly 2 million Poles, were also targeted for
destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic or national
reasons; and
WHEREAS, This Commonwealth was founded on the principles of
religious freedom and tolerance; and
WHEREAS, The people of this Commonwealth should remember the
atrocities committed by the Nazis so that these horrors are
never repeated; and
WHEREAS, The people of this Commonwealth should continually
rededicate themselves to the principle of equal justice for all;
and
WHEREAS, The people of this Commonwealth should remain
vigilant against all tyranny and recognize that bigotry provides
a breeding ground for tyranny to flourish; and
WHEREAS, In the 1930s and the 1940s, Pennsylvanians rescued
children from Europe, led efforts to publicize the horrors of
the Holocaust during the war, liberated concentration camps and
prosecuted those who committed these evil acts in the Nuremberg
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Trials; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 1,000 Pennsylvanians who are Holocaust
survivors have contributed their oral histories of the Holocaust
to the USC Shoah Foundation, created by Steven Spielberg, and
have told their stories in schools and in communities across
this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvanians have established Holocaust museums,
educational programs, monuments and commemorations throughout
this Commonwealth, engaging Jews, Christians, Muslims and all
people of good will; and
WHEREAS, With the help of the children and grandchildren of
Holocaust survivors and liberators, Pennsylvanians can continue
to rededicate themselves to the principle of equal justice for
all; and
WHEREAS, The General Assembly passed Act 70 of 2014 to
provide for curriculum guidelines that would complement the
stories of Pennsylvania's Holocaust survivors and the efforts of
their children and grandchildren to teach our students about the
Holocaust; and
WHEREAS, A recent survey reported that 710 of the State's 775
school entities now provide age-appropriate education on the
Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations as a standing
part of their curricula; and
WHEREAS, April 21, 2020, which corresponds to the 27th day of
Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, has been designated
internationally as a "Day of Remembrance of Victims of the Nazi
Holocaust" and is also known as Yom Hashoah; and
WHEREAS, This date further coincides with the anniversary of
the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in German-occupied Poland which
occurred from April 19 through May 16, 1943; and
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WHEREAS, It is appropriate for the people of this
Commonwealth to join in the international commemoration of this
solemn event; and
WHEREAS, The massacre of close to a dozen of Pennsylvanians
of Jewish faith killed in the largest anti-semitic hate crime in
the history of the United States reminds us that the hate
manifested in the Holocaust can still lead to almost unspeakable
violence in any generation; and
WHEREAS, By marking this occasion and honoring the memory of
the millions of victims of the Holocaust, the House of
Representatives hopes to overcome prejudice and inhumanity
through education, vigilance and resistance; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate April
19 through 26, 2020, as "Days of Remembrance of the Victims of
the Holocaust" and recognize april 21, 2020, as "Holocaust
Remembrance Day" in Pennsylvania.
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