HJR172 Summary

• Recognizes and honors the 2021 State Yom HaShoah Commemoration held on April 11, 2021, sponsored by the Alabama Holocaust Commission in partnership with the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center and Jewish Community Relations Council.

• Yom HaShoah, instituted by Israel in 1951, commemorates the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and typically includes synagogue services, vigils, memorial candles, and prayers.

• The 2021 ceremony featured speakers including Pastor Chris Edmonds (son of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, designated "Righteous Among the Nations") and honored Holocaust survivor Max Steinmetz, who survived five ghettos and camps including Auschwitz before his death on March 4, 2021.

• The ceremony included rededication of an Anne Frank Tree in Birmingham's Kelly Ingram Park as a symbol of freedom and nature, honoring the tree in Anne Frank's garden.

• Affirms that the Alabama Holocaust Commission, established in 1999, has the responsibility to enhance public awareness of the Holocaust and promote Holocaust education as a proper concern of all peoples.