By: Fern Sidman

For nearly two decades, Sen. Bernie Sanders has occupied a seat on one of the most solemn and symbolically charged boards in American civic life—the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Yet according to internal attendance records obtained by The New York Post, the Vermont independent has not attended a single meeting since his appointment in 2007. That revelation has now ignited a rare bipartisan effort to remove Sanders from the body charged with safeguarding the institutional memory of the Holocaust.

The controversy, first brought to light in a report on Monday in The New York Post, has stirred deep unease among fellow council members, Jewish communal leaders, and lawmakers who view the museum not as a ceremonial appointment but as a living institution with an urgent educational mission—particularly at a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion worldwide.

The Holocaust Memorial Council, established by an act of Congress in 1980, oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, located roughly two miles from the Capitol. The council meets twice a year, drawing members from across the country to guide the museum’s educational programming, commemorative initiatives, and institutional direction.

According to records supplied by museum staff and reviewed by The New York Post, Sanders—appointed to the council in 2007—has missed every single meeting since taking his seat.

“There are two large meetings every year where people fly in from all over the country,” said Robert Garson, president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and a fellow council member. “But Bernie Sanders couldn’t be bothered to walk across the road in DC.”

Jonathan Burkan, a Wall Street executive and another board member, was even more pointed. “Eighteen is a good number in Judaism,” he quipped to The New York Post, “but not in this case.”

Both Garson and Burkan emphasized that they were speaking in their personal capacities, not on behalf of the museum—an important distinction in an institution that carefully guards its nonpartisan character.

The mounting frustration has now coalesced into formal action. Garson and Burkan are among a dozen signatories on a letter sent to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urging Sanders’ replacement. The letter, first reported by The New York Post, cites not only Sanders’ chronic non-attendance but also his public statements accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza—remarks the signers argue are incompatible with the museum’s mission.

“In the current context, with Jew hatred and Holocaust distortion rising globally,” the letter states, “it is imperative that Senate-appointed representatives on the Council are fully engaged and steadfastly supportive of its mission.”

Alex Heckler, a longtime Democratic Party activist and fundraiser appointed to the council by former President Joe Biden, underscored the bipartisan nature of the effort.

“This is not a partisan issue, just common sense,” Heckler told The New York Post. “His beliefs and public statements do not reflect the stated mission of the museum. Also, he has never attended a meeting in the years I have been on the Council.”

Heckler’s remarks carry particular weight. A former deputy national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, he survived President Trump’s April removal of several Biden appointees from the board, lending him credibility across political lines.

The question animating critics is not merely symbolic—it is practical. Council seats are limited, and each carries the expectation of active participation.

“Why take someone’s place who will show up? I just don’t understand it,” said Jimmy Resnick, a Trump-appointed council member whose late father, Abe Resnick, also served on the board.

“He doesn’t care. It’s like a non-existent position,” Resnick added in comments to The New York Post.

Resnick was quick to note that absenteeism is not universal among Democratic appointees. He pointed out that former Biden picks Susan Rice and Doug Emhoff, the former second gentleman, attended meetings as recently as last year—before their removal from the board.

Sanders and Schumer did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The New York Post, nor did Senate President pro tempore Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who may have authority to make a replacement appointment.

What has drawn particular ire from critics is not only Sanders’ absence, but his public rhetoric surrounding Israel and Gaza. In September, Sanders published a lengthy statement accusing Israel of committing genocide—language that many Jewish leaders regard as a profound distortion of a term born from the murder of six million Jews.

“That word emerged from the Holocaust—one of the darkest chapters in human history,” Sanders wrote. “Make no mistake. If there is no accountability for Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals, other demagogues will do the same.”

To Sanders’ critics, the irony is glaring. As The New York Post has reported, they argue that a sitting member of the Holocaust Memorial Council invoking the Holocaust’s defining term to describe Israel—a Jewish state born in the shadow of that genocide—undermines the museum’s core purpose.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum does not set government policy. But it occupies a singular place in American public life. For Jewish Americans, it is one of the most important cultural institutions in the nation’s capital—a space of remembrance, education, and moral reckoning.

Critics argue that Sanders’ absence represents a dereliction of responsibility at a moment when the museum’s mission is more vital than ever.

Antisemitism is rising globally. Holocaust denial and relativization are spreading online and in public discourse. Educational institutions face pressure to dilute or politicize Holocaust history. Against this backdrop, council members say, disengagement is not a neutral act.

Sanders is not the only senator with attendance issues. As The New York Post has detailed, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) has attended just two of the council’s past ten meetings. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), another long-serving member, has missed the last 13 meetings—though his record includes appearances in 2017 and 2019, making it notably better than Sanders’.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was appointed this month, and no meetings have yet occurred during his tenure. Last April, he donated part of his Senate salary to the museum.

The fifth Senate-selected position remains vacant.

What distinguishes Sanders, critics argue, is the totality of his absence—18 years without a single appearance—combined with public statements they view as fundamentally misaligned with the council’s mission.

Some observers have noted an additional layer of irony. Socialists and Communists played significant roles in armed resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. Socialist Zionists—including Israel’s first president, David Ben-Gurion—were instrumental in founding the Jewish state.

Yet Sanders, who helped mainstream democratic socialism in American politics through his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, has chosen not to engage with an institution that preserves the very history from which many socialist movements once drew moral clarity.

“It’s unclear why Sanders has not sought to inform the direction of the museum’s educational mission,” one board member told The New York Post, noting that ideological differences need not preclude participation.

The effort to remove Sanders now places the issue squarely in the hands of Senate leadership. Whether Schumer or Grassley will act remains uncertain. But the pressure is building, and the documentation supplied to The New York Post has transformed what was once anecdotal frustration into verifiable fact.

For many council members, the matter transcends Sanders himself. It is about whether service on the Holocaust Memorial Council is treated as an honorific title—or as a solemn obligation.

As one board member put it privately, “This isn’t a résumé line. This is about showing up for history.”

With Holocaust survivors dwindling in number and misinformation proliferating at unprecedented speed, the museum’s role as a guardian of historical truth has never been more critical. Those charged with overseeing that mission, council members argue, must be present—not only in name, but in action.

As The New York Post continues to report, the controversy surrounding Sanders’ tenure has opened a broader conversation about accountability, representation, and the responsibilities that accompany symbolic power.

Whether Sanders ultimately retains his seat or is replaced, the episode has already delivered a stark reminder: remembrance is not passive. It demands engagement, vigilance, and the willingness to stand in the room where history is preserved—and contested.

For the Holocaust Memorial Council, and for the Senate leaders now under pressure to act, the question is no longer whether absence matters. It is whether it can be allowed to continue.