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In solemn recognition of the week of April 21 through April 28, 2019 as the National Annual Remembrance of the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, who perished during the Holocaust.
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WHEREAS, Over seventy years ago, six million Jews were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust as part of a systematic program of genocide, and millions of other people suffered as victims of Nazism; and
WHEREAS, The people of the City of Philadelphia should continually rededicate themselves to the principle of equal justice for all people; and
WHEREAS, The people of the City of Philadelphia should remain eternally vigilant against all tyranny, and recognize that bigotry provides a breeding ground for tyranny to flourish; and
WHEREAS, During the Nazi period everyone had to make moral choices. Some people became perpetrators, others were bystanders. A small and brave minority chose to help the persecuted - these are the rescuers and helpers. This was an extraordinary selfless choice. It meant risking not only their own lives but the lives of their families as well. Many paid with their lives. Although none succeeded in halting the Holocaust, many people survived as a result of their efforts. Each chose to defy the power of the Nazis and their collaborators. They showed the power of the individual and provided hope in otherwise hopeless circumstances by demonstrating the importance of moral courage in action; and
WHEREAS, Given the alarming growth in the number of anti-Semitic threats since the beginning of 2017, most recently and horrifically the murder of 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, it is clear that we cannot be complacent in the face of anti-Semitism or any other forms of bigotry and hatred; and
WHEREAS, Both the Talmud and the Koran remind us: ‘whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved the world entire’; and
WHEREAS, The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and the Memorial Committee for the Six Million Jewish Martyrs will honor the memory of the six million martyrs and honor the survivors on April 28, 2019; and
WHEREAS, We further recognize the horror of the Holocaust, and extend to the Memorial Committee the respect and admiration of this legislative body; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby recognizes the week of April 21 through April 28, 2019 as the National Annual Remembrance of the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, who perished during the Holocaust and commend the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia for their ongoing commitment to the memories of those who perished and to a peaceful world in which such a tragedy should never occur again.
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