Bill Text: NC H668 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Remembering the Holocaust
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2015-04-30 - Ch. Res 2015-6 [H668 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2015-H668-Enrolled.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2015
RATIFIED BILL
RESOLUTION 2015-6
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 668
A JOINT RESOLUTION HONORING THE MEMORy and lives OF VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST, INCLUDING THOSE WHO PERISHED IN AND THOSE WHO SURVIVED NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS, AND RECOGNIZING AND HONORING THE United states ARMED FORCES WHOSE COURAGE AND BRAVERY LED TO THE LIBERATION OF THOSE CAMPS ON THIS SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE United states ARMY'S LIBERATION OF THE INFAMOUS DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP.
Whereas, April 29, 2015, marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, Germany; and
Whereas, in 1933, Dachau became the first major concentration camp established by the Nazi regime, serving as a training center for SS concentration camp guards and incarcerating clergy, Jews, political opponents of the Nazis, and homosexuals and others labeled as "undesirable elements" by the Nazis; and
Whereas, prisoners were executed in Dachau and its many surrounding sub‑camps, as well as being starved to death and worked to death; and
Whereas, Dachau included an "experimental station," which conducted medical experiments through the use of hypothermia, forced diseases, and other atrocities to observe and document their gruesome and agonizing effects on defenseless prisoners; and
Whereas, Dachau was one of a system of concentration camps and their sub‑camps in which millions perished during World War II; and
Whereas, the estimates of prisoners who died or were executed at Dachau is nearly 50,000 persons; and
Whereas, prior to its liberation, Dachau held nearly 70,000 prisoners; and
Whereas, the United States Armed Forces, and particularly the United States Seventh Army's 42nd and 45th Infantry Divisions, with support of the 20th Armored Division, played the lead role in the liberation of Dachau and its surrounding camps; and
Whereas, on April 29, 1945, these divisions of the U.S. Army, which had fought their way through Europe and were proceeding to capture the German city of Munich, arrived at the concentration camp at Dachau on April 29, 1945, and seized control of that camp; and
Whereas, upon their arrival at Dachau, the United States Army discovered a string of approximately 40 railway cars sitting on a siding near the camp entrance, loaded with thousands of emaciated corpses of prisoners who had been moved from other concentration camps; and
Whereas, the Dachau concentration camp included a crematorium, gas chamber, and adjacent rooms piled high with naked and emaciated human corpses at the time the U.S. Army liberated the camp; and
Whereas, on the days prior to and following the liberation of Dachau, the U.S. Army liberated Jews and others who were on forced death marches or transports to and from Dachau and other concentration camps, including North Carolina residents Morris Glass, Abe Piasek, Harry Weiss, and others; and
Whereas, on the days following their liberation of Dachau, the U.S. Seventh Army took over administration of the Dachau camp, supplying food and medical supplies and establishing evacuation hospitals to assume the care and feeding of the prisoners; and
Whereas, a Dachau survivor gave U.S. Army Air Corps soldier David Walter Corsbie, Jr., an "ashcake" containing the ashes of an unknown number of individuals killed at Dachau and urged him to take them home as a reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust; and
Whereas, David Walter Corsbie hid the ashes in his Surry County home until shortly before his death in 1986, before transmitting them to his son Joe; and
Whereas, through the efforts of David Walter Corsbie's family and Holocaust survivors and their children, and The Holocaust Speakers Bureau in Chapel Hill and Durham's Beth El Synagogue, those ashes were given a proper burial at the Durham Hebrew Cemetery on May 25, 2014; and
Whereas, North Carolina is the home to many Holocaust survivors and veterans who were involved in the liberation of concentration camps during World War II and whose age and mortality are diminishing their ranks, including the recently deceased U.S. Army veteran liberators Robert Patton and Bud Parsons, North Carolinians who spoke at the State's commemoration of the annual "Days of Remembrance" program in 2011, presented by the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust; and
Whereas, North Carolina is the home of major military bases, including Fort Bragg, the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Marine Corps Air Station New River, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson and Pope Air Force bases, and the Coast Guard station at Elizabeth City, as well as the North Carolina National Guard; and
Whereas, the North Carolina Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, and Division of Veterans Affairs serve and bear witness to the courage of the United States Armed Forces involved in these liberation efforts; and
Whereas, the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust, established by the State in 1981, works tirelessly with Holocaust survivors to promote and provide Holocaust education for our teachers and students throughout the State and has worked tirelessly to organize this and various other recognitions to give meaning to the promise, "never again"; Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
SECTION 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina honors the courage, memories, and sacrifices of victims of the Holocaust, including those who perished in and those who survived Nazi concentration camps, including Dachau.
SECTION 2. The General Assembly recognizes and honors the courage and bravery of United States Armed Forces whose mighty and heroic efforts led to the liberation of those camps.
SECTION 3. The General Assembly of North Carolina recognizes and honors those Holocaust survivors, together with military commanders and representatives of the liberators of the United States Armed Forces based in North Carolina and representatives of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs.
SECTION 4. The General Assembly of North Carolina expresses gratitude to those persons and entities hosting and participating in events this year commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau and other concentration camps and applauds the efforts of the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust and its members and hereby reaffirms its support of and commitment to educational efforts to teach current and future generations about the Holocaust, to preserve the memory of those murdered, and to prevent future genocides.
SECTION 5. The Secretary of State shall transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the United States Army in recognition of its liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, and to the commanders of all military bases in North Carolina, the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust, the Holocaust Speakers Bureau in Chapel Hill, the Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Director of the North Carolina Museum of History.
SECTION 6. This resolution is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 30th day of April, 2015.
s/ Daniel J. Forest
President of the Senate
s/ Tim Moore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
