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Commemorating the Victims

 

Yom Hashoah – Israel remembers those who died in the Holocaust.

 

“Yom Hashoah” is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, in memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by German Nazis, their allies and accessories. In the Jewish tradition, the day starts at sun-down on 26th Nissan in the Hebrew calendar and ends the following evening. In 2015, the day is 16 April.

 

The central state memorial service takes place in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The opening on the evening of 15 April will be attended by the President, the Prime Minster, survivors and their families, and invited Israeli and foreign guests. As every year, in 2015 six torches will be lit in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered. TV and radio broadcast the event live and during the day will also provide further coverage on the Holocaust.

The theme of Yom Hashoah in 2015 is “The Anguish of Liberation and the Return to Life: Seventy Years Since the End of WWII”.

On the morning of Yom Hashoah, at 10 a.m., throughout the country the sirens will sound for two minutes. For those two minutes all of Israel will stand still – be it pedestrians in the street or cars on the road. With absolute silence, the people show their reverence for the victims of the Holocaust. Hospitality outlets remain closed all day and all flags fly at half-mast.

 

Memorial events are held not only in Yad Vashem, but at countless other places in Israel, too. For example, in the Kibbuz of the Ghetto Fighters (Kibbuz Lochamei Haghetta’ot) and in Kibbuz Yad Mordechai – named after the leader of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, Mordechai Anilevich – not to mention in schools, army bases and public agencies.

Since the introduction of the Yom Hashoah by the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, David Ben Gurion, and the second President, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, in 1959, Jewish communities the world over hold the Remembrance Day on 27th Nissan. 

For example, in Berlin each year the Jewish Community holds a memorial hour, after which the names of the 55,696 murdered Berlin Jews will be read out loud outside the Community Hall at Fasanenstrasse.

By contrast, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the victims of the genocide was introduced by the United Nations in 2005 and takes place on 27 January. That is the day when Auschwitz was liberated.

    

For the broadcast of the ceremony and background materials on the 2015 Yom Hashoah topic and the six persons who will light the torches in 2015, please visit the Yad Vashem Web site.

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