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Josephs marks Days of Remembrance to never forget Holocaust

HARRISBURG, April 22 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., attended the annual Holocaust Civic Commemoration held at the state Capitol this week and plans to attend the Holocaust memorial program Sunday in Philadelphia.

These events are being held during the "Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust," which are recognized as April 19 through April 26 this year as noted in Josephs' resolution, H.R. 214, which was unanimously adopted.

At Tuesday's Harrisburg ceremony, Josephs talked about the recent Passover Seder and how its lessons are still important and relevant today.

"What happened in Egypt so many thousands of years ago did not happen long ago and far away. It happened to us," Joseph said.

"So when we look at Darfur or Kosovo, we are not witnesses to something that is happening to a strange people we don't know on the other side of the world. We are living through inexpressively terrible events that are happening to us. That is why if we really believe in 'never again,' we have to do our best to stop genocide no matter where it is taking place or who its victims are. Because it is not happening in the Sudan or the former USSR, it is happening to us."

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 Harrisburg 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.

The Philadelphia program is expected to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 16^{th and Arch streets. The program includes a candle-lighting ceremony, speaker Sara J. Bloomfield, director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and musical performances.}

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