Despite unanimous support in the New York state Senate, a bill aimed at bolstering Holocaust education in New York stalled in the Assembly in the waning hours of last year’s legislative session. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Anna Kaplan, told Capital Tonight that she’s “surprised” the bill didn’t cross the finish line.
The bill, which is sponsored by Nily Rozic in the Assembly would authorize the education commissioner to conduct a study on how New York’s schools teach about the Holocaust. A 2020 study ranked New York near the bottom in Holocaust education of millennials. The study also found that nearly 60% of New York millennials couldn’t name a concentration camp or ghetto.
As the number of years grow since the Holocaust, Kaplan said the bill is needed because “we always say never again. In order for us to say never again, we have to know what happened.”
The bill will need to pass through the Assembly Ways and Means Committee before it can get to the Assembly floor for a vote.
