Stalled Holocaust education bill in New York gets new hope

A bill aimed at bolstering Holocaust education in New York stalled in the state Legislature in the waning hours of last year’s 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. The bill is currently in the Senate Education Committee.

There has been debate in both houses over whether the single-issue bill should proceed or if it should be amended to include audits of other topics, including the study of slavery and the Irish Potato Famine.