Florida leadership continues to recognize the unique brutality of the Holocaust and the ongoing consequences.
And a new law (SB 356) sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday ensures that won’t be forgotten here.
“This legislation provides schools and the executive branch with the tools to ensure Floridians understand these atrocities by recognizing Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We empower Floridians with the knowledge to uphold justice and morality,” Berman said on the Senate floor ahead of the unanimous vote to approve the measure this Session.
Jan. 27 holds significance in history because it’s the day the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated in Poland 80 years ago.
Many governments and organizations, including the United Nations General Assembly, already acknowledge the Jan. 27 date, which carries historical significance.
Ahead of the House passing the bill, its own sponsor spoke to a jarring, contemporary need for remembrance.
“Over the past few years, Florida has actually seen over 1,200 reported incidents of antisemitic harassment, propaganda, vandalism, assaults, extremist events, terroristic plots and even murders right here in our Sunshine State,” said Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich.
Recent media reports described a small number of neo-Nazi protesters rallying outside Disney World and a University of Central Florida fraternity being suspended for using a swastika symbol during a hazing incident.
Tendrich, who is Jewish, quoted some of the bigoted words hurled at her personally as she presented the bill on the House floor.
“’Hitler didn’t do enough. Go crash and die. Jews belong in the gas. Why don’t you go to Israel and be a politician there?’” Tendrich recounted.
If Jan. 27 is on a weekend, the next instructional day will be dedicated to the remembrance in public schools.
Back in 2019, his first year in office, Gov. DeSantis and other state leaders participated in the traditional wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, which is a museum dedicated to remembering what too many would like to forget.
“It was a profound honor to participate in today’s wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem,” said Governor DeSantis at the time. “These grounds are a harrowing reminder of the terrible atrocities of the Holocaust and all who were lost in those dark days. It is critical we honor and remember the victims and work to ensure such crimes are never again repeated.”
As he nears the end of his time in office, DeSantis is still doing what he can to honor and respect those who passed, to ensure such atrocities happen never again.
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A.G. Gancarski and Gabrielle Russon contributed reporting.
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