BySenators Frockt, Hunt, Cleveland, Das, Keiser, Salomon, Van De Wege, Stanford, Lovelett, Braun, Sheldon, Schoesler, Hawkins, Wellman, Takko, Wilson, C., Zeiger, Saldaña, Dhingra, Liias, Honeyford, Carlyle, Billig, Rolfes, Kuderer, Wilson, L., Conway, Brown, Walsh, Holy, Wagoner, and O'Ban

WHEREAS, January 27, 2020, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp; and

WHEREAS, January 27th was designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 in 2005; and

WHEREAS, The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators; and

WHEREAS, Six million Jews were murdered between 1933 and 1945; Roma, people with disabilities, and Poles were also targeted for destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons; and millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny; and

WHEREAS, The history of the Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on the moral responsibilities of individuals, societies, and governments; and

WHEREAS, A 2018 study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany revealed a disturbing lack of knowledge about the Holocaust among Americans; and

WHEREAS, There has been a dramatic rise in hate crimes and bias incidents in the last several years, including deadly attacks on the Jewish community; and

WHEREAS, The people of the State of Washington should always remember the terrible events of the Holocaust and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny to ensure that the tragedies of the past are never repeated; and

WHEREAS, Washington State recognizes the events of the Holocaust not only as the product of unimpeded prejudice and violence, but as a direct attack on our country's most sacred values; and

WHEREAS, It is our moral obligation to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust to spread awareness of these tragic events and to reaffirm our united stance against hate; and

WHEREAS, Deprivation of human rights based on religion does not just threaten the individual freedoms of those who are targeted, it threatens the foundations of a just society;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate pause in its deliberations to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day.