MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Izaia “Jack” Schacter, an 87-year-old Birmingham resident and Holocaust survivor, was given a standing ovation Tuesday at the Alabama State House in recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day, which House members later recognized with a resolution.
Also known as Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day pays tribute to the approximately six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The Alabama Legislature has adopted a resolution annually recognizing the day for the past several years.
Tuesday’s observance began at the Alabama Department of Archives and History building, attended by Gov. Kay Ivey, where Dan Puckett, chair of the Alabama Holocaust Commission and a Troy University professor, spoke to the day’s importance. He also championed Ivey’s support for the AHC.
“Gov. Ivey has been very supportive of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, she has attended every one of our commemorations, even as lieutenant governor she attended,” Puckett said. “She has been outspoken against antisemitism, Alabama is now one of many states who adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and much of this is thanks to Gov. Ivey’s proclamation.”
Developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the IHRA definition of antisemitism outlines 11 examples of antisemitism, and was adopted by the United States in 2019 via an executive order. Some, however, including more than 1,300 Jewish professors, have opposed the IHRA definition of antisemitism and characterized it as conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
Born in Romania in 1937, Schacter, who also attended the event at ADAH, saw much of his family deported to forced labor camps or ghettos after Nazi Germany occupied his home town in July of 1941. He sat next to Ivey at the event, unspeaking but surrounded by family.
At the event, Ivey spoke to the importance of recognizing Holocaust Remembrance Day, and championed Alabama’s close ties with the state of Israel.
“We Alabamians share a uniquely close bond with the Jewish people,” Ivey said. “Alabama was the first U.S. state to call for the establishment of the nation of Israel over 80 years ago, and in 2019, we were the first state to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and undivided capital city of Israel.”
Later at the State House, Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, introduced the resolution recognizing Holocaust Remembrance Day, which also named Schacter by name.
The resolution passed with a single objection from Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, who told Alabama Daily News that her opposition was not against recognizing the day, but rather, against what she argued to be an inconsistent pattern with what issues Republican leadership prioritize.
“All these same people who sit here and talk about the Holocaust, these same people step on us like nothing happened in this country, as if we are nothing and then we’re supposed to bow down,” Moore told ADN.
“Blacks have always been sympathetic of everybody who’s had a problem, and we’re sympathetic now, but this group of Republicans, they’re going to step on us in a few minutes and we go along with what they do, which makes the public think we’re OK with it and that’s why the public is so upset with Democrats.”
Faulkner later told ADN that the regular passage of the resolution was important to nearly all members of the Legislature, and like Ivey, championed Alabama’s close ties with Israel, while also championing the state’s new standards on Holocaust education in public schools.
“We have got the strongest Holocaust education standards in the nation, Alabama does,” Faulkner told ADN. “This just happened this past year, so it will go into effect for this coming school year.”