TOMS RIVER – The Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders marked Holocaust Remembrance Day with a moment of silence and a formal proclamation at its April 4 public meeting.
“We ask all Ocean County residents to pause with us and remember the victims of the Holocaust,” said Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 12, 2018, so Little said it was appropriate to schedule the commemoration at the Freeholders’ last public meeting before the actual day.
Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, when Jews in the Polish capital took up arms against the Nazis.
More than 6 million Jews were among the victims of the Nazi atrocities, according to the National Holocaust Museum.
“We must remember these atrocities from generation to generation to help ensure that they are never repeated,” Little said.
Freeholder Deputy Director John C. Bartlett Jr. said the Holocaust was the pinnacle of the Nazi horrors that terrorized and enslaved Europe for nearly 6 years.
“This was state-sponsored extermination of human beings,” Bartlett said. “Jews, Gypsies, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents were all targeted.”
Bartlett said the Remembrance Day is not only a time to memorialize Holocaust victims, but also an opportunity to stamp out hate and reflect on the importance of tolerance in a free society.
