Vermont HCR 11: House concurrent resolution designating January 23–27, 2023 as the first annual Holocaust Education Week in Vermont

Bill Text

R-22 Page 1 of 1
2023

VT LEG #368567 v.1
No. R-22. House concurrent resolution designating January 23–27, 2023 as the first
annual Holocaust Education Week in Vermont.
(H.C.R.11)
Offered by: All Members of the House
Offered by: All Members of the Senate
Whereas, the Holocaust refers to Nazi Germany’s annihilation during the Second World
War of six million Jews, as well as millions of others, including Romas, LGBTQ, persons
with disabilities, political dissidents, and members of other targeted populations, and
Whereas, the pervasive level of antisemitism embedded in the Nazis’ political
philosophy was first manifested when they came to power in 1933, and rose to a new
intensity on November 9, 1938, when on Kristallnacht (also known as the Night of Broken
Glass or the November Pogrom), Nazis and their sympathizers destroyed hundreds of
synagogues and more than 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses, and vandalized Jewish
cemeteries, resulting in the deaths of approximately 100 and the arrest of 30,000 Jewish
men, foreshadowing the Holocaust, and
Whereas, in 2021, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) documented a 34 percent rise
over 2020 in antisemitic incidents in the United States, with 2,717 occurrences of assault,
harassment, or vandalism, the highest number since the ADL began tracking this statistic
on an annual basis in 1979, and
Whereas, even in Vermont’s schools, the student sharing of Nazi imagery has increased,
and
Whereas, history has repeatedly shown that hatred directed toward Jews inexorably
metastasizes and threatens other marginalized groups, and
Whereas, the Vermont Holocaust Memorial, Echoes & Reflections, and other Holocaust
education organizations are collaborating for the first time with the Agency of
Education to offer a Holocaust Education Week in Vermont’s schools during the week of
January 23–27, 2023, which coincides with the observance of International Holocaust
Remembrance Day on January 27, 2023, now therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly designates January 23–27, 2023 as the first annual
Holocaust Education Week in Vermont, and be it further
Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
Vermont Holocaust Memorial President Debora Steinerman, and to the Vermont Agency
of Education.