The AFL-CIO has urged its affiliates and 13 million members to support the U.S.Holocaust Memorial Museum and “to contribute funds for its construction.” The action came in a resolution passed unanimously by delegates to the organization’s recent convention in Anaheim, Calif.
The museum, planned by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, is being built entirely with private funds on federal land in Washington. The volunteerled United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Campaign, with President Reagan as honorary chairman, is raising $100 million nationwide to construct, equip and endow the museum.
The AFL-CIO resolution follows recent donations to the museum campaign by the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council.
When AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland turned over the contribution to campaign co-chairmen Miles Lerman and Sigmund Strochlitz, he remarked: “From the earliest days of Hitler’s rise to power, the American labor movement has repeatedly condemned and actively opposed the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews and their suppression of rights … This museum will serve as an important reminder of the events and will help strengthen the resolve of all Americans to assure that no such horror ever happens again.”
Other union support has come recently from the United Steelworkers of America and from the Communications Workers of America.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
