Jared Moskowitz with Senator Sobel (yellow) along with members of the Jewish Federation and Holocaust survivors. Photos by Jared Rosenstein.

By: Sharon Aron Baron

One of the greatest threats to the Jewish population will be that there will soon be no more witnesses to the Holocaust, said Representative Jared Moskowitz to members of the state House of Representatives.  

Without witnesses, there will be no one to testify as to what happened and we will have to depend on museums and memorials along with stories and books he said.

On Monday at the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Governor Rick Scott signed a bill authorizing funding for a Holocaust memorial to be built in Tallahassee on the Capital Complex sponsored by Moskowitz (D-Coral Springs) and State Senator Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood). 

Florida is home to the second largest surviving Holocaust population said Moskowitz. The bill, which first passed in the Senate, passed in the House of Representatives 115-1 after a moving speech by Moskowitz which ended in a standing ovation. 

Moskowitz told members of the house, “There are people with numbers on their arms like some sick dewey decimal system of death. If you have never met someone with a number tattooed on their arm, I implore you to meet with that person because those people will no longer exist.”

State Rep. Jared Moskowitz represents Tamarac, Coral Springs, Sunrise and Plantation.

Norman Frajman, a local Holocaust survivor was honored with the Florida Freedom Award by Governor Scott at the event

Governor Rick Scott with Senator Sobel and Rep Moskowitz along with members of the Jewish Federation.

Rabbi Denberg, Jared Moskowitz, Mike Moskowitz, Rabbi Denberg