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Josephs attends annual Holocaust Civic Commemoration

HARRISBURG, May 6 -- State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., attended the annual Holocaust Civic Commemoration today held at the state Capitol.

At the event, Josephs read her House resolution that was unanimously adopted last month designating May 2 to May 9 as "Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust."

"We must recognize that bigotry provides breeding ground for hate to flourish, so it is appropriate for people of the Commonwealth to join in this international commemoration," Josephs said. "We shall strive always to overcome prejudice and inhumanity throughout the Commonwealth through education, vigilance and resistance."

Josephs noted that the Holocaust was a state-organized persecution of Jews and other targeted groups, including those with homosexual orientations, by the Nazi state and its collaborators. From 1933 to 1945, 6 million Jews were murdered as part of a system of genocide. She said that people of the Commonwealth should always remember to promote equal justice for all people.

The ceremony also included candle lighting by Holocaust survivors, and a reading of an essay by the winner of the Schwab Holocaust Essay contest. Gov. Edward Rendell and other state legislators also participated in the civic commemoration.

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