A day before the 80th anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler, Florida lawmakers unanimously passed a bill to declare Jan. 27 as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The measure is meant to combat a rising trend in antisemitism and attacks on Jewish people.

“Over the past few years, Florida has actually seen over 1,200 reported incidents of antisemitic harassment, propaganda, vandalism, assaults, extremist events, terroristic plots and even murders right here in our Sunshine State,” said Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lake Worth.

Hate crimes against Jews in the United States rose by about 11% in 35 cities in 2024, according to Brian Levin, a research analyst from the Crime and Justice Research Alliance and professor emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino.

In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated that date — which is the anniversary of the liberation ofAuschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous Nazi concentration camps — as International Holocast Remembrance Day and urged every member state to honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism.

There are currently 27 legal holidays, nine paid holidays and 35 special observances in Florida statutes, according to an analysis of the bill. The most recent new addition was Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day, added in 2024 and first observed this year to honor the first Black military aviators in what wasn’t yet the U.S. Air Force.

What does SB 356 do?

SB 356 says, “In honor of the millions of victims killed in the Holocaust, the Governor shall annually proclaim January 27 to be ‘Holocaust Remembrance Day,’ which may be observed in the public schools of this state and by public exercise at the State Capitol and elsewhere as the Governor may designate.”

Schools are encouraged to provide instruction on that day of “harmful impacts of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism and the positive contributions of the Jewish 41 community to humanity.” If the date lands on a weekend, Holocaust Remembrance Day may be observed in public schools on the following school day or another date chosen by each district’s school board.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on March 27 and in the House on April 29.

National observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day

While President Donald Trump did not issue a proclamation on Holocaust Remembrance Day in January, he did send a presidential delegation to attend the commemoration of the Auschwitz-Birkenau anniversary in Oświęcim, Poland. On April 23, Trump issued a proclamation on April 23 commemorating Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, known as Yom HaShoah.

“On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and during this week of solemn remembrance, we honor the blessed memories of the six million Jewish men, women, and children who were viciously slaughtered by the genocidal Nazi regime and their collaborators — one of the bleakest hours in human history,” the proclamation read.  

The Trump administration and many Republicans have used antisemitism as the reason for cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests on college and university campuses, and the administrations that don’t punish the students enough.

Florida education and the Holocaust

Florida schools already have a Holocaust Education Week, the second week in November, which coincides with the anniversary of Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938.

According to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, that was when Nazi leaders unleashed a series of programs against the Jewish population in Germany, including rounding up about 30,000 Jewish men and taking them to concentration camps for no other reason than because they were Jewish. They followed it with a demand for a $1 billion Reichsmark “atonement tax” and many anti-Jewish laws.

Under state statute, Florida educators are required to incorporate lessons on the Holocaust, antisemitism, and the “systematic and state-sponsored annihilation of European Jews.”

January is Florida Jewish History Month. Established by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003, the month is a time to teach and celebrate the contributions of Floridian Jews to the state.