WHEREAS, The Holocaust was a tragedy of proportions the world had never before witnessed; and

WHEREAS, More than 60 years have passed since the tragic events we now call the Holocaust transpired, in which the dictatorship of Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews as part of a systematic program of genocide known as “The Final Solution of the Jewish Question”; and

WHEREAS, Jews were the primary victims, but they were not alone. Five million others were murdered in Nazi concentration camps as part of a carefully orchestrated, state-sponsored program of cultural, social, and political annihilation under the Nazi tyranny; and

WHEREAS, We must teach our children and future generations that the individual and communal acts of heroism during the Holocaust serve as a powerful example of how our nation and its citizens can, and must, respond to acts of hatred and inhumanity; and

WHEREAS, We must always remind ourselves of the horrible events of the Holocaust and remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny lest these atrocities be repeated; and

WHEREAS, We, the people of California, should actively rededicate ourselves to the principles of human rights, individual freedom, and equal protection under the laws of a just and democratic society; and

WHEREAS, Each person in California should set aside moments of his or her time every year to give remembrance to those who lost their lives in the Holocaust; and

WHEREAS, The United States Holocaust Memorial Council has designated April 16 through April 22, 2007, as the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, including the International Day of Remembrance, known as Yom HaShoah, on April 16, 2007; and

WHEREAS, According to Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and nationally recognized scholar, “... a memorial unresponsive to the future would violate the memory of the past”; now, therefore, be it