LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the United Nations' observance of
International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2010

WHEREAS, From 1933 to 1945, six million Jews, two-thirds of all European
Jewry, were murdered during the Nazi Holocaust as part of a systematic
program of genocide; in Poland, the Jewish death toll surpassed 90
percent and millions of people of other ethnic backgrounds perished as
well; and
WHEREAS, Jews who fell under German control in Eastern and Central
Europe were quickly stripped of their rights and property; many claims
on such property by survivors or their families remain unresolved more
than six decades later; and
WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize offi-
cial days that are set aside to increase awareness of serious events
that have taken place in history and have affected the lives of citizens
of New York State; and
WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and fully in accord with its long-
standing traditions, it is the sense of this Legislative Body to commem-
orate the United Nations' observance of International Holocaust Remem-
brance Day on January 27, 2010; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations will observe the International Day of
Commemoration with a ceremony in memory of the victims of the Holocaust
to be held in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at New York Headquarters;
the keynote speaker will be Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad
Vashem Council; and
WHEREAS, This year the theme of the memorial ceremony is "An Authentic
Basis for Hope: Holocaust Remembrance and Education," in reference to
the new initiatives in the development of national Holocaust curricula
and cooperative projects that are helping to promote human rights and
respect for diversity around the world; and
WHEREAS, The observance will honor the 6 million Jews and countless
numbers of minorities who suffered discrimination, deprivation and
murder during the Nazi regime; January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the
largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by
Soviet troops; and
WHEREAS, International Holocaust Remembrance Day urges every member
nation of the U.N. to honor the memory of Holocaust victims, and encour-
ages the development of educational programs about Holocaust history to
help prevent future acts of genocide; it condemns all manifestations of
religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against
persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief; and
WHEREAS, Moreover, it calls for actively preserving the Holocaust
sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labor
camps and prisons, as well as for establishing a U.N. program of
outreach and mobilization of civil society for Holocaust remembrance and
education; and
WHEREAS, The Holocaust represents the darkest period in the civiliza-
tion of mankind and must always be remembered in order to prevent its
reoccurrence anywhere else in the world; and
WHEREAS, The People of the State of New York should continually reded-
icate themselves to the principle of equal justice for all people, and
remain eternally vigilant against all tyranny, and recognize that bigot-
ry provides a breeding ground for tyranny to flourish; now, therefore,
be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the United Nations' observance of International Holocaust
Remembrance Day on January 27, 2010; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the United Nations' Holocaust Remembrance Day Committee.