Res. No. 723

Resolution commemorating Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 15, 2007.

By Council Members Nelson, Avella, Brewer, Fidler, Gennaro, Gentile, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Mealy, Recchia Jr., Sanders Jr., Vallone Jr., Weprin and Oddo

                     Whereas, Six million Jews and scores of other innocent people throughout Europe were slaughtered by the Nazis during the Holocaust, one of the most brutal and devastating of all genocides; and

                     Whereas, The Holocaust was the manifestation of the intense anti-Semitism, hatred, savagery and inhumanity that ravaged Europe from 1933 to 1945, resulting in the senseless murder of millions; and

                     Whereas, Jewish men, women and children and others targeted by the Nazis were herded to the concentration camps that bore names like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka and Theresienstadt, where they were met by unspeakable living conditions, inhumane medical experimentation, torture and mass killings; and

                     Whereas, There can be no measure to the destruction and devastation that resulted from the Holocaust nor can the world ever fully recover from this basest of hate campaigns; and

                     Whereas, We can however, make every possible effort on every level of society to learn from these past evils and ensure that the lives of those who perished and those generations of lost and ruined families are remembered and that we shall never again allow another Holocaust to occur; and

                     Whereas, On April 15, 2007, people of all religions, races and ethnicities across the globe are urged to join in the commemoration of the lives of those who perished in the Holocaust and the mass destruction it reaped upon the Jewish people and the world; and

                     Whereas, The true meaning of Yom Hashoah is not only a call for people to devote one calendar day to remembrance but a call to devote the entirety of our lives to the preservation of humanity, decency, respect and peace among all peoples; and

Whereas, Especially now, as we enter a new century, a clean slate that lies ahead of us, it is our responsibility to conduct our lives in a manner that values humanity above all else and to remember the millions of lives taken in the Holocaust; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York commemorates Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 15, 2007.

JN

LS# 2402

1/24/07