R 061453Z APR 18
MARADMIN 200/18
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC MRA MP//
SUBJ/2018 HOLOCAUST DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE//
REF/A/UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM/WWW.USHMM.ORG//
REF/B/JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY/WWW.JEWISHVIRTUALLIBRARY.ORG//
REF/C/WASHINGTON POST/“THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING: ARMED JEWS VS. NAZIS’/DAVID KOPEL/15OCT2015//
POC/T. M. VELAZQUEZ/CIV/UNIT: MPE/-/TEL: (703)784-9371/TEL: DSN 278-9371/TEL: COMM (703)784-9371//
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1.  Public Law 96-388 was enacted establishing the United States Holocaust Memorial Council on October 7, 1980.  One of the Council's responsibilities is to “provide for appropriate ways for the Nation to commemorate the Days of Remembrance, as an annual, national, civic commemoration of the Holocaust, and shall encourage and sponsor appropriate observances of such Days of Remembrance throughout the United States.”  The Council also participates in the development and maintenance of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.
2.  The Holocaust Days of Remembrance are from Sunday, April 8 to Sunday, April 15, 2018 with Holocaust Remembrance Day being observed on Thursday, April 12, 2018.  The internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day corresponds to the Hebrew calendar's 27th Day of Nisan.  The 2018 observance theme is:  “Learning from the Holocaust:  Legacy of Perseverance.”
3.  Holocaust Remembrance Day is called in Hebrew, “Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah,” which translates literally as "Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism."  The day commemorates the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of  April 19, 1943.  The Jewish ghettos were enclosed city districts by which the Nazis moved the subjugated Jewish civilian populations forcing them to live in wretched conditions marked by starvation and disease.  The Jewish ghettos separated the Polish Jews not only from their gentile neighbors but from other Jewish communities throughout the Nazi-dominated, Polish territory.  The Warsaw ghetto was the largest of its kind in both area and population, and eventually it tightly confined 30 percent of Warsaw's total population within 2.4 percent of the city's whole area.  The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising occurred as a reaction to the Nazi's deportation of approximately 300,000 Jews from the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp.  The remaining Jewish population in the Warsaw ghetto stood at around 55,000 to 60,000.  Led by Mordecai Anielewicz, a youthful underground resistance group called Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (Z.O.B.) meaning “Jewish Fighting Organization” and other small groups held an uprising against the Nazi's, and for twenty-seven days the Warsaw Jews resisted being loaded onto the death trains destined for Treblinka until May 16, 1943.  The resistance did not last and the ghetto was decimated, but the heroism of the resistance fighters is historically respected by the allied governments and remembered around the world.  The Warsaw uprising is credited for diverting some Nazi resources away from the battlefront.
4.  During this observance month, commanders are encouraged to observe the Days of Remembrance and to support opportunities discussing the holocaust and related topics such as the prevention of genocide the protection of all human life the preservation of diverse cultures and the law of war.  Commanders are encouraged to conduct programs and promote participation in observance events within their commands and across their local communities.
5.  Release authorized by Brigadier General S. F. Benedict, Division Director, Manpower Plans and Policy.//