BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                      



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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  ACR 4
          Author:   Block (D) and Lowenthal (D), et al.
          Amended:  4/11/11 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
          WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  Read and adopted, 2/3/11


           SUBJECT  :    California Holocaust Memorial Week

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This resolution declares May 1, 2011, through 
          May 8, 2011, as California Holocaust Memorial Week.

           ANALYSIS  :    This resolution makes the following 
          legislative findings:

             1.   The Holocaust was a tragedy of proportions the 
               world had never before witnessed.

             2.   More than 65 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."

             3.   Jews were the primary victims, but they were not 
                                                           CONTINUED





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               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.

             4.   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.

             5.   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.

             6.   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.

             7.   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.

             8.   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.

             9.   The United States Holocaust Memorial Council has 
               designated May 1 through May 8, 2011, as the Days of 
               Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, including 
               the International Day of Remembrance, known as Yom 
               HaShoah, on May 2, 2011.

             10.  According to Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and 
               nationally recognized scholar, "... a memorial 
               unresponsive to the future would violate the memory of 
               the past."

          This resolution declares May 1 through May 8, 2011, as 







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          "California Holocaust Memorial Week."

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Fiscal Com.:  No



          PQ:nl  4/13/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                       SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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