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Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan (May 1, 2011) and ending the following evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country. The central ceremonies, in the evening and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day - in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister, dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashemin which six torches, representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit. The following morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work. Central Theme - Fragments of Memory: The Faces behind the Documents, Artifacts and Photographs "Gathering the Fragments" - Yad Vashem launches national campaign to rescue personal items from the Holocaust period Yad Vashem, in partnership with the Prime Minister’s Office National Heritage Project, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Pensioner Affairs, has embarked on a new campaign: "Gathering the Fragments: A national campaign to rescue personal items from the Holocaust period." The campaign seeks to gather documents, diaries, photos, artifacts and works of art from the Holocaust years that are currently held privately by people in Israel. This rescue operation is a race against the clock, an effort to collect the artifacts and the documents along with the story behind them to ensure their eternal conservation by bringing them to Yad Vashem for safekeeping. "Personal stories, told through items such as letters and postcards, artwork, diaries, toys and more add a critical dimension to Holocaust commemoration and education," said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. "A great deal of our activities today at Yad Vashem, including education and research, rests on this documentation. That is why we are urging people who may have Holocaust related material in their possession to bring them to Yad Vashem, where they will be preserved for generations to come." Director of the Archives Dr. Haim Gertner added, "We know that many Holocaust survivors and their families have personal documentation in their homes that is not known or accessible to the public at large. Many of those who have this material are unaware of its great importance and the need for its professional preservation. At Yad Vashem it will be well cared for and easily reached by historians, researchers and anyone else interested in its unique story." In the course of the campaign, Yad Vashem is calling on anyone who has original documentation and artifacts from the pre-war, Holocaust and immediate post-war period to submit them to Yad Vashem for safekeeping. Here they will be added to the Yad Vashem collection, conserved, cataloged and digitized for easy universal access. A call center [1-800-25-7777] has been established for anyone who would like to donate material. "Unto Every Person There is a Name" Six million Jews, among them 1.5 million children, were murdered in the Shoah while the world remained silent. The worldwide Holocaust memorial project "Unto Every Person There is a Name", now in its 21st consecutive year, is a unique project designed to perpetuate their memory as individuals and restore their identity and dignity, through the public recitation of their names on Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day. By personalizing the individual tragedies of the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany and its collaborators, this project counters persistent efforts by enemies of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to deny the reality of the Holocaust and cast it as history’s seminal hoax. "Unto Every Person There is a Name" is conducted around the world in hundreds of Jewish communities through the efforts of four major Jewish organizations: B'nai B'rith International, Nativ, the World Jewish Congress and the World Zionist Organization. The project is coordinated by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, in consultation with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and enjoys the official auspices of the President of the State of Israel Shimon Peres. In Israel, "Unto Every Person There is a Name" has become an integral part of the official Yom Hashoah commemoration ceremonies, with the central events held at the Knesset and at Yad Vashem with the participation of elected officials, as well as events throughout the country. "Everyone has a name" and, from Israel Matzav/Carl in Jerusalem: If you just listen to tonight's overnight music video, you will hear a beautiful rendition of Ani Ma'amin (I believe with a pure faith in the coming of the Messiah and although he may tarry I will await him each day until he arrives) by the Miami Boys Choir. If you watch the video, you will appreciate the strength that is sometimes necessary for Jews to maintain that eternal faith. This is not an easy video to watch. But it's appropriate for the day. Let's go to the videotape. | |||||||||||||||
Monday, May 2, 2011
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2011
