A resolution recognizing the 30th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

III 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 167 Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 20, 2023 Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to RESOLUTION Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Whereas, on April 26, 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Museum’’) opened to the public as a permanent living memorial museum to the victims of the Holocaust, fol- lowing dedication ceremonies days earlier with the Presi- dent of the United States, the President of the State of Israel, the Chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Council Harvey Meyerhoff, and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; Whereas, for 3 decades, the Museum has been teaching both the history of the Holocaust and the lessons learned from the Holocaust, including lessons about the fragility of de- VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 167 ATS mocracy, the power of propaganda, and the dangers of hatred, antisemitism, and inaction, to members of the public, especially youth, from all walks of life, including members of underserved communities; Whereas the aim of the Museum’s educational work is to pro- mote self-reflection and critical thinking about the roles and responsibilities of individuals in the world today and catalyze actions to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity; Whereas, during its first 30 years, the Museum has welcomed over 47,000,000 visitors, including millions of school- children and more than 100 heads of state; Whereas the Museum has enabled hundreds of Holocaust sur- vivors to share their experiences with tens of thousands of students and the public at the Museum, online, and across the country; Whereas the Museum has conducted its educational outreach in multiple ways, having— (1) built the world’s most comprehensive collection of Holocaust documentation and a state-of-the-art facility to preserve that collection and make it digitally acces- sible; (2) launched the world’s leading online authority on the Holocaust, the 20-language Holocaust Encyclopedia, which served 25,000,000 visitors in 2022; (3) built a robust social media presence that has raised awareness of the Holocaust and related anti- semitism and that in 2022 had 2,300,000 followers, 306,000,000 views, and over 56,000,000 engagements; (4) created Experiencing History, the primary re- source on the Holocaust for college and university in- VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 167 ATS structors and their students across multiple disciplines on campuses nationwide; (5) created foundational guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust and served thousands of teachers nationwide with professional development trainings and classroom resources that emphasize the pivotal role of antisemitism in creating the environment that led to the Holocaust; (6) traveled exhibitions throughout the country on topics such as the ‘‘1936 Berlin Olympics’’, ‘‘Nazi racial science’’, ‘‘Nazi propaganda’’, and ‘‘Americans and the Holocaust’’; (7) sponsored programs for thousands of law en- forcement agents, military personnel, and members of the judiciary to examine the roles of their counterparts dur- ing the Holocaust and reflect on their own roles today in preserving democracy; (8) supported development of the vital field of Holo- caust studies, including the research and teachings of hundreds of scholars in the United States and abroad, and foundational publications like the ‘‘The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945’’; and (9) opened the International Tracing Service Ar- chives, which enables the Museum to provide thousands of survivors and their families with historic documenta- tion pertaining to their individual wartime experiences; Whereas the Museum has become a well-respected inter- national resource, having— (1) worked with European Union officials and Euro- pean governments in Eastern and Western Europe to ad- vance policies and institutions devoted to preserving the memory and relevance of the Holocaust in perpetuity; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 167 ATS (2) raised awareness of the Holocaust in parts of the Middle East and held the first Holocaust remembrance ceremonies in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt; and (3) helped establish the field of genocide prevention, becoming a resource for policymakers and raising public awareness of populations currently threatened by geno- cide and mass atrocities, such as the Uyghurs, Rohingya, and Yezidis; Whereas, more than 75 years after the Holocaust, anti- semitism continues to be expressed publicly around the world through the proliferation of hate speech, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that lead to hate crimes and violence, both in the United States and abroad; Whereas, in 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by consensus, a resolution that condemns Holo- caust denial and encourages the development of programs meant to educate future generations on the horrors of the Holocaust and antisemitism; Whereas, on June 14, 2021, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution unequivocally condemning the recent rise in antisemitic violence and harassment targeting Jewish in- dividuals in the United States and standing in solidarity with those affected by antisemitism; and Whereas the Museum aims to be a global leader in bringing awareness of the Holocaust to audiences worldwide, pro- moting the relevance of the Holocaust for new genera- tions, building the field of Holocaust education in the United States, and protecting the truth of the Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 167 ATS (1) congratulates all those who were responsible 1 for the creation of the United States Holocaust Me- 2 morial Museum and all those who have turned that 3 vision into a living and growing memorial and edu- 4 cational resource accessible to the people of the 5 United States and the world; 6 (2) condemns antisemitism as a particularly 7 pernicious form of hate and racial and religious big- 8 otry and calls on the United States Holocaust Me- 9 morial Museum to continue its critical work, in-per- 10 son and online, educating the public about the dan- 11 gers of antisemitism and the origins of the Holo- 12 caust; 13 (3) encourages leaders and all individuals in the 14 United States and around the world to utilize the re- 15 sources available from the United States Holocaust 16 Memorial Museum and speak out against manifesta- 17 tions of antisemitism, bigotry, and hatred against 18 Jewish individuals and communities, including grow- 19 ing online antisemitic harassment, abuse, Holocaust 20 denial, and conspiracy theories; 21 (4) supports and encourages educational and 22 community-based programs that counter anti- 23 semitism and hate, as well as those that advance 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 167 ATS educational programs about the Holocaust and pro- 1 vide support for Holocaust survivors; 2 (5) commits to continue to raise awareness and 3 act to eradicate the continuing scourge of anti- 4 semitism in the United States and abroad; 5 (6) designates April 26, 2023, as ‘‘United 6 States Holocaust Memorial Museum Day’’; and 7 (7) respectfully requests that the Secretary of 8 the Senate transmit an enrolled copy of this resolu- 9 tion to the chair of the United States Holocaust Mu- 10 seum Memorial Council and a copy to the director 11 of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:42 Apr 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR167.ATS SR167 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS