Israel marks Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
12 Apr 2010
"Take heed... lest you forget the things your eyes have seen... and tell them to your children, and their children after them"
(Deut. 4:9)

Yad Vashem - The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority

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 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 Vashem in 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.

"The Voice of the Survivors" - The Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2010

This year’s central theme for Yom Hashoah is "The Voice of the Survivors", focusing on the many different ways survivors have contributed to Holocaust remembrance and commemoration over the years. Since the end of World War II and even before, survivors of the Holocaust have been key to keeping alive the memory of lost communities, families and individuals who perished in the Shoah.

Their testimonies told personally, written and recorded are a vital source for much that we know today about the Holocaust and are a clarion call to successive generations to keep this memory alive into the future. Through their voices the survivors have kept the commandment to remember the past and teach it to future generations. On this Yom Hashoah we pay tribute to the Holocaust survivors - those who have, despite the pain, shared their stories so that we should all remember and learn the lessons of mankind’s darkest hour, and those who have devoted their lives to the cause of Holocaust commemoration, whether through education, research, literature, music, art, or other channels.

Throughout the Yad Vashem website the voices of the survivors infuse exhibitions, historical narratives, teaching units and ceremonies with content and with meaning. Many of those testimonies have been specially compiled and can be accessed either topic or location.

"For whoever listens to a witness becomes a witness."
Excerpt from a speech given by Elie Wiesel at Yad Vashem

"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.

- Lists of names

"Everyone has a name"
Poem by Zelda
[translated from Hebrew]

Everyone has a name
given to him by God
and given to him by his parents.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his stature
and the way he smiles.
and given to him by his clothing
Everyone has a name
given to him by the mountains
and given to him by the walls.
Everyone has a name
given to him by the stars
and given to him by his neighbors.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his sins
and given to him by his longing.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his enemies
and given to him by his love.
Everyone has a name
given to him by his holidays
and given to him by his work
.Everyone has a name
given to him by the seasons
and given to him by his blindness.
Everyone has a name
given to him by the sea and
given to him
by his death.