[Page S398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 40--COMMEMORATING THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
LIBERATION OF THE AUSCHWITZ EXTERMINATION CAMP IN NAZI-OCCUPIED POLAND 
              AND INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

  Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Booker, Mr. Cramer, and Mr. 
Schumer) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
agreed to:

                               S. Res. 40

       Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 
     (2005) designated January 27 of each year as an International 
     Day of Commemoration in memory of victims of the Holocaust;
       Whereas, during World War II, the Nazi regime and its 
     collaborators systematically murdered 6,000,000 Jews and 
     millions of other individuals;
       Whereas the Auschwitz extermination camp complex in Nazi-
     occupied Poland, which included a killing center at Birkenau, 
     was the largest death camp complex established by the Nazi 
     regime;
       Whereas, on January 27, 1945, the Auschwitz extermination 
     camp was liberated by Allied Forces, after almost 5 years of 
     murder, rape, and torture at the camp;
       Whereas nearly 1,300,000 innocent civilians were deported 
     to Auschwitz from their homes across Eastern and Western 
     Europe, particularly from Hungary, Poland, and France;
       Whereas nearly 1,100,000 innocent civilians were murdered 
     at the Auschwitz extermination camp between 1940 and 1945;
       Whereas at least 960,000 of the nearly 1,100,000 murdered 
     people were Jewish;
       Whereas the more than 100,000 other victims who perished at 
     Auschwitz included non-Jewish Poles, Romani people, Soviet 
     civilians and prisoners of war, Afro-Germans, Jehovah's 
     Witnesses, people with disabilities, gay men and women, and 
     other ethnic minorities;
       Whereas these innocent civilians were subjected to torture, 
     forced labor, starvation, rape, medical experiments, and 
     separation from loved ones;
       Whereas the names of many of these innocent individuals who 
     perished have been lost forever;
       Whereas the Auschwitz extermination camp symbolizes the 
     extraordinary brutality of the Holocaust;
       Whereas the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum serves 
     as our Nation's memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and 
     teaches the history and lessons of the Holocaust to 
     individuals from all walks of life in the United States;
       Whereas the people of the United States must never forget 
     the genocide and terrible crimes against humanity committed 
     at the Auschwitz extermination camp;
       Whereas the people of the United States must educate future 
     generations to promote understanding of the dangers of 
     intolerance in order to prevent similar injustices, including 
     acts of violent antisemitism, from happening again;
       Whereas there are only approximately 220,000 Holocaust 
     survivors who are still living and it is more important now 
     than ever to share their collective histories and stories;
       Whereas, in recent years, there has been an increase in the 
     number and intensity of antisemitic incidents in the United 
     States and around the world;
       Whereas, since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack 
     in Israel, there have been more than 10,000 antisemitic 
     incidents in the United States;
       Whereas hate crime statistics collected by the Federal 
     Bureau of Investigation demonstrate a 63 percent increase in 
     antisemitic incidents in the United States from 2022 to 2023;
       Whereas, in 2018, the United States experienced the single 
     deadliest attack against the Jewish community in the history 
     of the United States with the murder of 11 individuals at the 
     Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and
       Whereas, especially in a period of rising antisemitism, 
     commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz 
     extermination camp will instill in all people of the United 
     States a greater awareness of the Holocaust and knowledge of 
     the horrors brought upon by the systematic murder of 
     6,000,000 Jews and millions of other innocent individuals by 
     the Nazi regime: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) commemorates January 27, 2025, as the 80th anniversary 
     of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp by 
     Allied Forces during World War II and as International 
     Holocaust Remembrance Day;
       (2) calls on all people of the United States to remember 
     the 1,100,000 innocent victims murdered at the Auschwitz 
     extermination camp as part of the Holocaust, the 6,000,000 
     Jews killed during the Holocaust, and all of the victims of 
     the Nazi reign of terror;
       (3) honors the legacy of the survivors of the Holocaust and 
     of the Auschwitz extermination camp;
       (4) calls on the people of the United States to continue to 
     work toward tolerance, peace, and justice and to continue to 
     work to end all genocide and persecution; and
       (5) recommits to combatting all forms of antisemitism.

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