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April 8, 2004

Woodbridge will honor the memory of World War II Holocaust victims with a special Days of Remembrance resolution to be read at the Township Council work session meeting April 13 at 7 p.m.

"The Holocaust was one of the darkest chapters in our world history," says Mayor Frank G. Pelzman. "It is essential that we never forget its atrocities, so that nothing like it ever happens again anywhere on Earth."

In accordance with an Act of Congress, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council has designated the week of April 18- 25, 2004, as Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. The International Day of Remembrance known by its Hebrew name of Yom HaShoah occurs April 18 - in the Jewish calendar, the 27th day of the month of Nisan in the Year 5764.

The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary victims, but numerous other ethnic, religious and racial groups were also targeted for destruction, including Gypsies, Poles, the handicapped, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war and political dissidents.

"The Days of Remembrance are a grim but necessary public occasion," says Councilwoman Brenda Yori Velasco. "They help us not only remember the past but emphasize our present-day need to respect all people and to remain vigilant against any form of hatred, tyranny and persecution."

Woodbridge residents are encouraged to celebrate Yom HaShoah by reading about the Holocaust or marking the memory of its victims, survivors, rescuers and liberators with individual ceremonies at home, work and school. "Learning and remembrance are the tools by which we can overcome intolerance and indifference," says Mayor Pelzman.