NEWS RELEASE
BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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The Boulder County Commissioners have proclaimed this week as Holocaust Awareness Week in Boulder County and encouraged residents to use these days to teach and remember the great injustices and genocides in the past and to commit themselves to creating an environment free of bias, exclusion, and harassment. The commissioners read the proclamation at the Yom HaShoah Community Remembrance event on Sunday in Boulder.
Resources
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website has online resources, including tools for learning and teaching, podcasts, and videos.
In 2020, the Colorado General Assembly passed HB20 – 1336 Holocaust And Genocide Studies In Public Schools. The legislation requires each school district Board of Education and charter school in Colorado to incorporate academic standards on Holocaust and Genocide studies into an existing course that is currently a condition of high school graduation. Visit the Colorado Department of Education website for more information, including resources and standards.
2024 Holocaust Awareness Week in Boulder County Proclamation
WHEREAS, prejudice, bigotry, racism, and hate have been the cause of conflict, war, and mass atrocities throughout history; and
WHEREAS, Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime were able to exploit severe economic hardships in the aftermath of World War I to foster prejudice, bigotry, and hatred toward a group who had historically been used as scapegoats throughout Europe; and
WHEREAS, the Holocaust is a defining event of the 20th century for many people in the Western world because of the Nazis' attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe while invading and annexing sovereign European countries; and
WHEREAS, during the Holocaust, at least 11 million people were brutally killed, including six million Jewish Europeans and at least five million prisoners of war, Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, people with disabilities, Black people in Germany, gay and bisexual men, and other people; and
WHEREAS, it is imperative that we make younger generations aware of the horrors that occurred in the past so that living and future generations may never forget the tragic lessons to be learned from the industrial-scale, government-sponsored killing during the Holocaust; and
WHEREAS, education curricula that includes the Holocaust is crucial so that these tragic lessons are not forgotten especially as survivors pass away and first-hand accounts become more scarce; and
WHEREAS, it is also important to remember, honor, and emulate those people who risked their lives to save thousands of innocent people during the Holocaust and to learn from their legacy of courage, selflessness, and hope; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of families, educators, government, our many diverse faith communities, humanitarians, and the media to teach the lessons to be learned from the Holocaust in order to prevent future tragedies; and
WHEREAS, Jewish people continue to experience intense bigotry, hate speech, and bias-motivated crimes, with antisemitic incidents reported in 2023 in the three-state region of Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming reaching their highest levels in more than four decades, an increase of 140 percent from 2022; and
WHEREAS, Boulder County condemns hate speech and bias-motivated crime against Jewish people , as well as all other attacks based on a person's ancestry or ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, race, religion, religious practice, disability, gender, marital status, actual or perceived age or sexual orientation.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County hereby proclaim May 5-11, 2024 as Holocaust Awareness Week in Boulder County and encourages residents to use these days to teach and remember the great injustices and genocides in the past and to commit themselves to creating an environment free of bias, exclusion, and harassment.
ADOPTED this 5th day of May 2024
Commissioner Claire Levy
Commissioner Marta Loachamin
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann
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