2015 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 15-1019 BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Rosenthal and Sias, Arndt, Becker J., Becker K., Brown, Buck, Buckner, Carver, Conti, Coram, Court, Danielson, DelGrosso, Dore, Duran, Esgar, Everett, Fields, Foote, Garnett, Ginal, Hamner, Humphrey, Joshi, Kagan, Keyser, Klingenschmitt, Kraft-Tharp, Landgraf, Lawrence, Lebsock, Lee, Lontine, Lundeen, McCann, Melton, Mitsch Bush, Moreno, Navarro, Neville P., Nordberg, Pabon, Pettersen, Primavera, Priola, Rankin, Ransom, Roupe, Ryden, Saine, Salazar, Singer, Tate, Thurlow, Tyler, Van Winkle, Vigil, Willett, Williams, Wilson, Windholz, Winter, Young, Hullinghorst; also SENATOR(S) Crowder and Ulibarri, Aguilar, Balmer, Baumgardner, Carroll, Cooke, Donovan, Garcia, Grantham, Guzman, Heath, Hill, Hodge, Holbert, Jahn, Johnston, Jones, Kefalas, Kerr, Lambert, Lundberg, Marble, Martinez Humenik, Merrifield, Neville T., Newell, Roberts, Scheffel, Scott, Sonnenberg, Steadman, Todd, Woods, Cadman. CONCERNING THE DECLARATION OF APRIL 12, 2015, THROUGH APRIL 19, 2015, AS "HOLOCAUST AWARENESS WEEK". WHEREAS, The Holocaust was a tragedy the proportions of which the world has never seen and that we as a community must never forget; and WHEREAS, This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and Dachau concentration camp by Allied troops at the end of World War II; and WHEREAS, Between 1939 and the end of the war in 1945, at least 11 million people, of which at least 6 million were Jews, were brutally murdered or died of starvation and disease or exposure in concentration camps, ghettos, boxcars, and killing fields in Germany and Eastern Europe at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators; and WHEREAS, In addition to its Jewish victims, the Nazi death machine exterminated Polish and Russian civilians, intellectuals, religious dissenters, political opponents, homosexuals, children and adults who were disabled, Romani, and prisoners of war; and WHEREAS, The Colorado National Guard's 157th Infantry Regiment fought throughout Italy, France, and Germany and under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Felix Sparks, liberated the Dachau concentration camp; and WHEREAS, Even in the ghettos and camps, the human spirit survived, as inmates formed musical groups, bands, and choruses; composed music and created poetry and works of art; and found ways to conduct prayers and religious observance; and WHEREAS, We also remember those courageous individuals who enabled Jews to escape from certain death, including diplomats Raoul Wallenberg from Sweden, Hiram Bingham IV and Varian Fry from the United States, Frank Foley from Great Britain, Dr. Carl Lutz from Switzerland, Ho Feng Shan from China, Chiune Sugihara from Japan, and Abdol Hossein Sardari from Iran; and WHEREAS, Clergy members and righteous gentiles used their religious positions to protect Jews, including Father Hugh O'Flaherty, Pastor Andre Trocme, and Irena Sendler; and WHEREAS, Ordinary citizens from all walks of life, many of whom will never be known, offered places of refuge to Jews and other targets of Nazi persecution, often at great cost to themselves from Nazi reprisals, but among the most notable were Oskar Schindler, Anne Frank's friend Miep Gies, and the Mayor and Bishop of the Greek village Zakynthos, who refused to give the names of the Jews in their village to the Gestapo; and WHEREAS, We must remember those who survived and lived to create great works of art, film, literature, and scholarship, including Primo Levi, an Italian-Jewish author and scientist; Hannah Arendt, noted political philosopher and author; and Elie Wiesel, recipient of the Nobel Prize and most famous for his memoir, Night; and WHEREAS, We also honor those survivors who resettled in Colorado, including: Sara Hauptman of Colorado Springs, a survivor of Auschwitz; Paula Burger, who now lives in Denver, survived by hiding in the Naliboki forest; and David Bram, who, as a 13 year old, was sent to Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and after he was liberated, settled in Colorado Springs; and WHEREAS, We must also recall that in the aftermath of war, Palestine, then controlled by the British, became the primary destination for many of the survivors in Europe, although Britain restricted immigration; that a massive effort was organized to smuggle Jewish refugees; that on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was born as a place of refuge for those who endured the ravages of the Holocaust; and that today, Israel is a thriving democracy and close ally and friend of the United States; and WHEREAS, Too many of the world's nations and leaders, however, have forgotten or never learned the lessons of the Holocaust, as demonstrated by the resurgence of anti-Semitism around the world, persisting Holocaust denial, recent episodes of ethnic cleansing, genocide, terrorism, crimes against humanity, war on civilian populations, and mass killings in so many parts of the world, including Syria, Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and the Sudan; and WHEREAS, Museums throughout this country and Israel, such as the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem, the Museum of Tolerance currently under construction in Jerusalem, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as archives and collections, such as the University of Colorado's Mazal Holocaust Collection, attest to the atrocities of the past and the need to educate future generations in order to prevent similar events in the years ahead; now, therefore, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Seventieth General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein: That we, the members of the General Assembly: (1) Proclaim the week of April 12, 2015, through April 19, 2015, as "Holocaust Awareness Week"; and (2) Declare that the people of Colorado should use these days to teach and remember the great injustices of the past and to commit to preventing such atrocities in the future. Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to the Jewish Community Relations Council of JEWISHcolorado; Major General H. Michael Edwards, Adjutant General of the Colorado National Guard; the Mountain States Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League; the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action; the Colorado Agency for Jewish Education; the Holocaust Awareness Institute at the University of Denver's Center for Judaic Studies; the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado; the Mizel Museum; Babi Yar Park; the Mountain States Regional Office of the Jewish National Fund; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.; the University of Colorado Program in Jewish Studies; the diplomatic missions of Israel, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, People's Republic of China, Japan, Iran, Italy, and Greece; Paula Burger; David Bram; the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem; the University of Colorado Mazal Holocaust Collection; The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity; Colorado Holocaust Educators; and the Colorado Congressional Delegation. _________________________________________________________ Dickey Lee Hullinghorst Bill L. Cadman SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PRESIDENT OF OF REPRESENTATIVES THE SENATE ____________________________ ____________________________ Marilyn Eddins Cindi L. Markwell CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE SECRETARY OF OF REPRESENTATIVES THE SENATE