This past Thursday, January 25, marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day where Suffolk County mourned the lives lost and forever changed by that horrific time in history. Members of local, county, and state government gathered with leaders of the Suffolk County Jewish community.
January 27 was designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 to recognize the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in World War II, remembering the 6,000,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions more affected by Nazi persecution.
“I’m here, as County Executive, to say there is no place for hatred in Suffolk County, now or ever,” stated Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches).
Since the October 7 attack on Israel, which led to the current Israel-Hamas war, there has been an alarming spike in antisemitic activity throughout the United States, reaching 3,291 incidents by early January of this year. Specifically, Long Island has seen twenty hate incidents reported against Jewish residents just between the weeks of October 7, 2023 and January 15, 2024. School districts across our county are also seeing an increase in antisemitic language and graffiti, including Port Jefferson Village, Commack, and Smithtown, who have reported findings of Swastika and Nazi symbols in bathroom stalls and on walls.
“This year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day is hitting very close to home,” said Alan Richter, Chairman of the Suffolk County Jewish Advisory Board. “The Jewish Community is a resilient community, a strong community. We will survive and thrive in what we’re facing. We are in mourning and we’re in crisis.”
In support of the Jewish Community and in honor of the millions lost in the Holocaust, the H. Lee Dennison building was lit yellow on the evening of the anniversary.
“Our board is grateful to County Executive Ed Romaine for commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day and honoring the lives of the six million Jews and others murdered in the Nazi Holocaust. By illuminating the H. Lee Dennison building in yellow, the County evokes the yellow Stars of David the Nazis forced Jews to wear,” said Richter. “This year the yellow lights also call to mind the ribbons symbolizing the more than 130 Israeli, American and foreign hostages—kidnapped in Israel in a genocidal rampage by Hamas on October 7, 2023—who remain captive in Gaza. We pledge to double our efforts to bring them home and fight the Jew hatred that fueled both the Shoah and the October 7 massacre.”
“By illuminating the H. Lee Dennison Building in yellow, Suffolk County honors the memory of those who perished and those who survived the Holocaust,” said Mindy Perlmutter, Jewish Community Relations Council of Long Island (JCRC-LI). ”In the words of Elie Wiesel: ‘For the dead and the living, we must bear witness,’ and Suffolk County’s commitment to remembrance this Thursday is a testament to that solemn duty. Thank you, Suffolk County, for ensuring that we always remember and never forget the profound impact of this period in history,”
“We must never forget what can happen when bad people are in positions of power. When people are persecuted for one reason, because of their religion or their race. You must never forget the lesson from the past,” said Presiding Officer of the County Legislature Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst). “We must be the ones that stand up against anti-semitism and I can tell you all of us here in this county, we’re committed to doing that and we are going to do our part to make sure that we don’t forget the lessons of the past, so they don’t show themselves again.”
“It’s important that we take a moment to remember all of the lives lost, the millions of innocent Jewish people and other victims who were persecuted by the Nazi regime,” said County Executive Romaine. “Today and every day we reaffirm our commitment to combat hatred and intolerance in any form and ensure that the lessons of the past are never forgotten as we work to create a more just and compassionate society for future generations.”
“StandWithUs, an international non-partisan organization that fights antisemitism, is grateful to Suffolk County Executive Romaine for marking this important day,” said Avi Posnick, StandWithUs Northeast Director. “Holocaust education and remembrance are critical to preventing anti-Jewish bigotry and other dangerous forms of hate. This is true given the rise in antisemitism, and particularly important for our students, the leaders of tomorrow, who are facing many forms of antisemitism in their schools and communities, which have escalated since the October 7 massacre.”
“Every one of us has an affirmative obligation every day to go ahead and embrace all people, for all of their value, and all of their work. I urge each of us to attempt to do that each and every day with who we gather and who we support, our board, our commissions, our activities, and most importantly, our instruction with our children,” says Comptroller John Kennedy (R-Nesconset). “I am a firm believer that, unfortunately, hate is a learned behavior and if we step forcefully forward and we instruct and teach our children to support inclusion, to support acceptance, and embrace who we are here in Suffolk County, we will put up defense against the hatred that allows these atrocities to occur.”
Also in attendance were Suffolk County Clerk Vincent Puleo (R-Nesconset), Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset), Legislator Nick Caracappa (C-Selden), Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue), Legislator Sam Gonzalez (D-Brentwood), Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport), Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), Legislator Jim Mazzarella (R-Moriches), Legislator Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville), and Legislator Ann Welker (D-Southampton).
The Messenger appreciates Supervisor Romaine and the county’s effort to recognize this important anniversary. We urge our readers to practice inclusion, love thy neighbors, and support those prosecuted against throughout our society.
