California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 152

Introduced by Assembly Members Bloom, Levine, Linder, Medina, Nazarian, and Thurmond

(Principal coauthors: Senators Allen, Block, Glazer, Hertzberg, Jackson, Leno, Stone, and Wolk)

March 8, 2016

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 152—Relative to California Holocaust Memorial Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 152, as introduced, Bloom. California Holocaust Memorial Day.

This measure would proclaim May 16, 2016, as California Holocaust Memorial Day and would urge all Californians to observe this day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in an appropriate manner.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Holocaust was a tragedy of proportions the
world had never before witnessed; and

WHEREAS, More than 70 years have passed since the tragic
events we now refer to as the Holocaust transpired, in which the
dictatorship of Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews as part
of a systematic program of genocide known as “The Final Solution
of the Jewish Question”; and

WHEREAS, Jews were the primary victims, but they were not
alone. Five million other people were murdered in Nazi
concentration camps as part of a carefully orchestrated,
state-sponsored program of cultural, social, and political
annihilation under the Nazi tyranny; and

WHEREAS, We must recognize the heroism of those who
provided assistance to the victims of the Nazi regime, including
the many soldiers who liberated concentration camps and provided
comfort to those suffering; and

WHEREAS, We must teach our children, and future generations,
that the individual and communal acts of heroism during the
Holocaust serve as a powerful example of how our nation and its
citizens can, and must, respond to acts of hatred and inhumanity;
and

WHEREAS, We must always remind ourselves of the horrible
events of the Holocaust and remain vigilant against hatred,
persecution, and tyranny lest these atrocities be repeated; and

WHEREAS, We, the people of California, should actively
rededicate ourselves to the principles of human rights, individual
freedom, and equal protection under the laws of a just and
democratic society; and

WHEREAS, Each person in California should set aside moments
of his or her time every year to give remembrance to those who
lost their lives in the Holocaust; and

WHEREAS, The United States Holocaust Memorial Council
recognizes the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the
Holocaust, including the Day of Remembrance, known as Yom
Hashoah; and

WHEREAS, According to Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor
and nationally recognized scholar, “a memorial unresponsive to
the future would violate the memory of the past”; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims May 16, 2016,
as “California Holocaust Memorial Day,” and that Californians
are urged to observe this day of remembrance for victims of the
Holocaust in an appropriate manner; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit
sufficient copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate
distribution.