Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HR0074

HR0074 LRB104 11846 LAW 21936 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators between 1933 and 1945; and

WHEREAS, In addition to perpetrating the Holocaust, Nazi Germany also persecuted and murdered millions of other victims using similar forms of state-sponsored terror; and

WHEREAS, Antisemitism, the hatred of or prejudice against Jews, was at the foundation of the Holocaust and was a core tenet of Nazi ideology; and

WHEREAS, The persecution of Jews in Germany and German-controlled areas evolved between 1933 and 1945, becoming increasingly radical and culminating in the mass murder of six million Jewish people; and

WHEREAS, During World War II, Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators killed nearly two out of every three European Jews using deadly living conditions, brutal mistreatment, mass shootings and gassings, and specially designed killing centers; and

WHEREAS, Prior to the formal development of a campaign of mass murder, Jews in Germany and German-controlled and aligned territories faced persecution in various forms, including public identification and exclusion, legal discrimination through antisemitic laws, organized violence, physical displacement, internment, theft, and forced labor; and

WHEREAS, Beginning in 1939, Nazi officials created ghettos in cities and towns where Jewish people were isolated, forced to live, and coerced to perform forced labor; thousands of Jewish people living in ghettos died as a result of starvation, rampant disease due to unsanitary conditions, extreme temperatures, and exhaustion from forced labor; and

WHEREAS, In 1941, Nazi leaders began the last stage of the Holocaust, a mass murder campaign involving mass shootings as well as gassings at specially designed killing centers that became known as extermination camps or death camps; the majority of Jews who had been forced to live in ghettos were murdered in mass shootings or after being forcibly relocated to extermination centers; and

WHEREAS, The Holocaust ended in 1945 when the major Allied Powers, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, defeated Nazi Germany and its allies, moving across Europe and liberating survivors from concentration camps; and

WHEREAS, In 2005, the United Nations adopted Resolution 60/7, designating January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and extermination center and to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazism; and

WHEREAS, The year 2025 marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, and the United Nations Outreach Programme chose "Holocaust remembrance and education for dignity and human rights" as its guiding theme for this year; and

WHEREAS, The Holocaust shows what happens when hatred, dehumanization, and apathy are allowed to destroy individual dignity and human rights; and

WHEREAS, Holocaust remembrance safeguards the memories of survivors and their testament of life before the Holocaust of vibrant communities, traditions, hopes, dreams, and loved ones who did not survive while recognizing the humanity and dignity of the Jewish people and others who the Nazis and their collaborators sought to destroy; and

WHEREAS, Holocaust remembrance is a bulwark against the denigration of humanity and a clarion call for action to ensure respect for dignity and human rights; and

WHEREAS, Holocaust remembrance is a victory against the Nazis and their collaborators and against all who would try to continue their legacy through spreading hatred and Holocaust distortion and denial into the 21st century; and

WHEREAS, In the spirit of remembrance and education, Illinois became the first state in the United States to require that public elementary schools and high schools include Holocaust history and other cases of genocide in school curriculum; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we honor the memory of the Jewish people who were victims of the Holocaust and recognize the bravery of survivors who have shared their stories with the world; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we honor the memory of the millions of additional people, including prisoners of war, ethnic Poles, Romani people, Serbian civilians, people with disabilities, political opponents and dissenters, people labeled as asocial, Jehovah's Witnesses, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and Black Germans, who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazi state and their collaborators; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we express gratitude for the soldiers, resistance fighters, and all those who helped defeat the Nazi regime and end the Holocaust; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we express gratitude for the American soldiers who fought around the world during World War II, including the over 980,000 men and women from Illinois who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and the approximately 22,000 who gave their lives in pursuit of liberty; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we express gratitude for the American forces that liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945, and who would go on that month to liberate concentration camps at Dachau, Dora-Mittelbau, and Flossenburg before liberating Mauthausen in early May 1945; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge all Illinoisans to commit to learning about the Holocaust in order to ensure that such atrocities are never perpetrated again; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge all Illinoisans to enhance their efforts to combat antisemitism, bigotry, intolerance, and racism.