House Bill 4276 as introduced
First Analysis (11-4-03)
Sponsor: Rep. Marc Shulman
Committee: Great Lakes and Tourism
In April 1951, the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) declared the 27th day of Nisan to be Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Ha’Shoah in Hebrew) to commemorate the Warsaw ghetto uprising on April 19, 1943 and to memorialize the millions of people who were enslaved and murdered during the Holocaust. In 1959, the Knesset declared the day to be a national public holiday, and passed a law in 1961 closing all public entertainment on this date. The U.S. Congress established the 27th day of Nisan as Holocaust Remembrance Day in 1980, and other countries have declared the date to be a day of remembrance of those who suffered the atrocities of the Holocaust. Legislation has been introduced to have the State of Michigan declare the 27th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar as Holocaust Remembrance Day, and to declare the week surrounding this date as the Days of Remembrance.
THE CONTENT OF THE BILL:
The bill would create a new act to establish the 27th day of the month of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar as Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the period beginning on the Sunday before that day through the following Sunday as the Days of Remembrance in Michigan, in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and in honor of the survivors, as well as the rescuers and liberators.
The bill states:
The legislature recognizes that the horrors of the Holocaust should never be forgotten. The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. In addition to the murder of some 6,000,000 Jews, millions more, including the handicapped, Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, prisoners of war, and political dissidents, also suffered grievous oppression and death under Nazi tyranny.
A key date in the history of the Holocaust is April 19, 1943, the beginning of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, when Jews, using homemade bombs and stolen or bartered weapons, resisted death camp deportation by the Nazis for 27 days. This date, which in the Hebrew calendar is the twenty-seventh day of Nisan, has been established by the United States Congress as a national Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the week surrounding this date has been established as the Days of Remembrance.
The bill says that the legislature encourages individuals, educational institutions, and social, community, religious, labor, and business organizations to pause on Holocaust Remembrance Day and during the Days of Remembrance and reflect upon the terrible events of the Holocaust, so that society will remain vigilant against hatred, persecution, and tyranny, and so that people will actively rededicate themselves to the principles of individual freedom in a just society.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Hebrew calendar is described as a lunar calendar based on 19-year cycles. The 27th day of Nisan corresponds to April 29 in 2003; April 18 in 2004; May 5 in 2005; April 25 in 2006; April 15 in 2007; May 1 in 2008; April 21 in 2009; and April 11 in 2010.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
According to the House Fiscal Agency, the bill would have no fiscal impact on the state or local units of government. (10-28-03)
ARGUMENTS:
For:
For all of the reasons eloquently stated within the text of the bill itself, it is fitting that the State of Michigan designate a Holocaust Remembrance Day and a weeklong Days of Remembrance so that we never forget.
POSITIONS:
The Michigan Jewish Conference supports the bill. (10-30-03)
The Holocaust Education Coalition supports the bill. (10-30-03)
One of the founders of the World Federation of Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust testified in support of the bill before the House Committee on Great Lakes and Tourism. (10-30-03)
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.