On January 29, the New York City Council held a Holocaust remembrance commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The event in the council chamber included a presentation of a proclamation for Yad Vashem, a performance from LaGuardia High School students and remarks from Gabriella Major, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
New York City Councilmember and Jewish Caucus Chair Eric Dinowitz began, “I learned in the Torah there isn’t a word for history. History is conveyed through remembering. Our past is part of us, whether it happened to us or people generations ago. Our memories impact who we are and what we’ll do in the future. We remember by doing. Tonight, we are holding a special commemorative event. … only 80 years ago Auschwitz was liberated. In 80 short years, people are forgetting, denying or downplaying the impact of the Holocaust.”
Councilmember Julie Menin, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, told her family’s story. “My grandmother was part of the ‘Shoah’ series. I have hours of footage of her story; one of the greatest gifts I’m able to give to my four children, so they truly will never forget.” Menin noted that the City Council was able to launch a project, along with the Gray Foundation, bringing 85,000 public school eighth graders to the Museum of Jewish Heritage. “Only through education are we going to combat people’s hearts who have been hardened.”
Dinowitz described the council’s unanimous resolution commemorating January 27, 2025 and every January 27 going forward as New York City’s Auschwitz Remembrance Day. “We are saying affirmatively that we are not going to forget.” Dinowitz sponsored this resolution with Councilmember Keith Powers.
Powers said, “There’s nothing more important than to reaffirm our commitment to the Jewish community, to confront antisemitism everywhere. In our civic halls and in our institutions, there’s no better place to make sure we raise our voice loud and we’re strong in our commitment to them.”
Congressman Dan Goldman stated, “Antisemitism is anti-progressive. Progressivism is the condemnation of all hate, and antisemitism is hate.” Goldman described his work with the HEAL Act (Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons Act) to strengthen Holocaust education in public schools and increase awareness of Holocaust educational resources available to local communities. Goldman noted that the act is designed to do an assessment around the country of the current state of Holocaust education. “With this data, we will get a lot more information about how we need to make sure that we’re continuing to educate about the Holocaust, because you have to learn it first before you can never forget.”
Major explained the great miracle through which she is here today. She described herself as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Major recalled that after the war, her family rebuilt their lives from ashes in Hungary. After communism set in, her family once again was persecuted “due to our background and just because we were Jewish.” When the Hungarian Revolution broke out, her family escaped to Austria and eventually to the United States, where they once again started a new life.
Major noted, “For 12 years, I have been educating students and adults about the horrors and the lessons of the Holocaust. My message is passionate. I tell them they are my ambassadors to convey to the world that hatred of people of any race, religion or color cannot be tolerated, and that hate kills. I explain to them that history might repeat itself. Unfortunately, it has. We have been experiencing growing antisemitism and open hatred, as most of social media denies or distorts the Holocaust. We must find this faceless hate; silent words matter. The Holocaust started with words of hate. We have seen how hate speech turned into violent actions, resulting in gas chambers and crematoria in Auschwitz and other killing centers.
“Seeing my grandson last year, a freshman at Columbia University, having the hardest time, being unsafe, unable to study and live on campus, brought me back to the experiences my parents and others had during the 1930s. When I came to the United States at age 14, I remember telling myself I am in a safe haven. My children and grandchildren will never have to experience what we went through.”
Major concluded, “We survivors will not be silent. Every one of us must unite to repair the world, We cannot be passive. We cannot let hatred extinguish our lights, and on this sacred day of International Holocaust Remembrance, we must solemnly pledge to remember and never forget the 6 million murdered.”
Dinowitz concluded with, “The Holocaust is not just about trauma, pain and intent of discrimination of people, but of resilience and what we can achieve. We are resilient people.”
