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Edited by: Fern Sidman

As sundown approached on Monday evening, April 17th, the nation of Israel and Jews around the world ushered in Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), a day dedicated to honoring and commemorating the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and the heroes who bravely resisted the Nazi regime during World War II.  Yom HaShoah has become a deeply meaningful time for the people of Israel and Jewish communities worldwide, as they come together to mourn, remember, and celebrate the resilience of the Jewish spirit, as was reported by Israfan.

The origins of Yom HaShoah date back to 1949 when the Chief Rabbinate of Israel designated the Tenth of Tevet as a day of remembrance. Over time, the Knesset established the 27th of Nisan as the official date for the annual Holocaust and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day. Israfan also reported that in 1959, the Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day Law was enacted, formalizing the observance of Yom HaShoah and solidifying its significance in Israeli society.

Yom HaShoah begins at sundown in Israel with a state ceremony held at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Authority in Jerusalem. The national flag is lowered to half-mast, and the President and Prime Minister deliver speeches to commemorate the occasion. Holocaust survivors light six torches to symbolize the six million Jews who lost their lives, and the Chief Rabbis recite solemn prayers.

During the day, memorial ceremonies and services are held at schools, military bases, and other community organizations. A powerful moment of unity occurs when an air raid siren sounds at 10:00 am, bringing the entire country to a standstill for two minutes of reflection and remembrance.

Also a key event in marking Yom HaShoah is the annual March of the Living that takes place at the site of the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Poland.

On Tuesday, The March of the Living – taking place for the 35th year – was led by 40 Holocaust survivors, alongside more than 13,000 participants from 25 countries around the world, Israel National News reported.

The theme of this year’s March was “Honoring Jewish Heroism in the Holocaust” marking the 80th anniversary of the heroic Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising lasted four weeks and has become a symbol of Jewish courage and heroism during the Holocaust. INN also reported that addressing the ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau was Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as well as Israel’s Minister of Education, Yoav Kisch. Minister Kisch spoke of how his grandfather had fought, and fallen in battle against the Nazis as the highest ranking Jewish servicemen in the British army in WWII, according to the INN report.  He pledged that Israel would continue to fight anti-Semitism and hold dear the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

In addition, this year’s march included a bi-partisan US delegation led by US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, and his predecessor Ambassador David Friedman. INN reported that Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist Haim Taib, lit a memorial torch in memory of the Jewish communities in North Africa who suffered under Nazi occupation – many of whom were imprisoned or deported to camps.

Among the 40 survivors leading the March was Warsaw-born Holocaust Survivor, Halina Birenbaum, who was a child during the uprising and was hidden in a bunker until the Nazis liquidated the Ghetto. The INN report indicated that she was deported to Majdanek and later to Auschwitz. She was accompanied by grandchildren of Jewish resistance fighters: Eyal Zuckerman, granddaughter of ŻOB commanders Zivia Lubetkin and Yitzhak (Antek) Zuckerman; and Nir Yaari, grandson of a resistance fighter, Bela Hazan Yaari.

Also lighting torches at the ceremony was Jewish-American businessman Robert Kraft; philanthropist, Miriam Adelson; Mark Wilf, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel; Ifat Ovadia Luski, Chair of KKL-JNF, as was reported by INN.

Addressing the ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, said, “Dear survivors, dear youth. We are here today to remember and pay tribute to the millions of victims of the bloodthirsty Nazi regime, whose atrocious crimes against humanity were enabled by the complicity of European fascist rulers, who handed over their own fellow citizens to their torturers. Such crimes shall never be forgotten nor forgiven.”

INN reported that he stressed, “Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Remembering is a part of our commitment. It is proof that, against the standard-bearers of oblivion, memory wins. To state how proud we are when we strive to be “human beings,” to reaffirm “never again”.

In Israel, this year was no different than other years in remembering the horrors of the Holocaust and those who survived this hell on earth, however, a clear message of unity and the determination to overcome differences was the prevailing sentiment amongst the speakers.

At the special ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem on Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog delivered addresses that  highlighted the Jewish resistance in the Holocaust and marked the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

On Tuesday morning at 10 am, a two-minute siren was heard throughout the country. Millions of Israelis stood in silence in memory of the six million Jews whose lives were snuffed out at the hands of the barbaric Nazi miscreants.

At 1 pm on Tuesday, a ceremony titled ‘Everyone Has a Name’ was held. And at 8 pm on Tuesday evening, a closing ceremony was held at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, the ‘Ghetto Fighter’s Kibbutz,’ as was reported by Israel National News. The public was also invited to light candles bearing the names of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem between 11 am and 4:30 pm.

On Monday, the Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Mr. Dani Dayan, delivered an address at the beginning of the day, INN reported.  Following his speech, a lecture was delivered by Ms. Malka Puterkovsky, a respected educator who reviewed the Jewish defense and resistance efforts during World War II.

Members of the IDF General Staff also conducted a tour of Yad Vashem  and the tour’s conclusion, a memorial ceremony was held in the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem.

INN also reported that the Delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel on Monday paid tribute to those who perished in the Holocaust and those who fought the Nazis.

In a statement, the delegation said, “We, representatives of the European Union and of the 26 Embassies of EU Member States present in Israel, are bowing our heads today in memory of the six million Jewish men, women and children who were brutally slaughtered during the Holocaust.”

The statement added, “We pledge to speak out forcefully whenever and wherever anti-Semitism rises. It is unacceptable that today the hatred of Jews is once again on the march. We will not stand idly by when Jews are being attacked or harassed, when false conspiracy theories and stereotypes are spread, when the Holocaust is denied or distorted, when the State of Israel’s right to exist in peace and security is questioned. Words are not enough. The European Union’s Comprehensive Strategy on Combatting Anti-Semitism and Fostering Jewish Life (2021-2030) lists 95 concrete actions we will take. More than half have already been set in motion.”

The joint statement was agreed to by the Ambassador of the European Union to the State of Israel and the Ambassadors of all European Union member states represented in Israel, i.e. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, as was reported by INN.

Also addressing the assemblage at Yad Vashem was Israeli President Isaac Herzog. In the aftermath of continuous and rancorous demonstrations against the proposed judicial reform laws in Israel which served to divide a nation and create enmity amongst brethren, Herzog struck a clear tone of unity and cohesion amongst all Israelis.

“At this moment, a moment of majesty, mercy, and truth, we can truly hear the heartbeats of an entire nation, standing before their “Days of Awe”: the week that begins tonight and will end with the conclusion of the State of Israel’s 75th Independence Day. But this year is no ordinary year. And this memorial day is like no other. This year, feelings are rough and shoulders are hunched, as if to attest to the weight of the discord bearing down on us. I appeal to you, citizens of Israel, with a simple prayer: let us leave these sacred days, which begin tonight and end on Independence Day, above all dispute; let us all come together, as always, in partnership, in grief, in remembrance,” Herzog declared with palpable emotion in his voice.

World Israel News reported on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called for unity and compared Iran to Nazi Germany in his address at the Yad Vashem Memorial.

The Israeli leader hailed the founding of the State of Israel as “the peak of the victory of the Jewish people” but noted that the Jewish people were still under threat.

Iran seeks to exterminate the Jewish people like the Nazis, he said, as was reported by WIN and Israel must be able to “defend itself by itself.” Netanyahu called for “power and internal unity” at a time of turmoil within the country.

The prime minister also hailed Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters were recently murdered by a Palestinian terrorist, for the fact that “at his lowest point,” Dee voiced pleas for national unity and proclaimed: “Am Yisrael Chai.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu said that “Never Again” means that Israel must ensure that Iran not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons. He emphasized that Israel’s enemies such as Iran should not err in thinking that internal division has weakened the country to such an extent that they can annihilate the Jewish people, as was reported by the JPost.

“The Jewish people live,” Netanyahu exclaimed, the JPost reported. “New oppressors, may think that we do not have the determination and internal cohesion to stand up to them. They are very wrong. We will defend ourselves, and together we will repel any threat to our existence. Our enemies will find us standing together, shoulder-to-shoulder,” Netanyahu continued.

He spoke as domestic turmoil over his judicial overhaul plan has caused regional enemies such as Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah to speculate that Israel could after 75 years collapse from within. The JPost also reported that Netanyahu said that the collapse of the Third Reich did not end the calls for Israel’s destruction, except that today that threat comes from Tehran’s “regime of terror.”

The lessons of the Holocaust that evil must be halted in its tracks must be applied here to prevent a nuclear Iran, Netanyahu added, the JPost report said. “The victory of the past does not alone guarantee the victory of the future. That is why we firmly fight any nuclear agreement with Iran, which would pave its way to nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu declared.

“For the same reason, we fight aggressively against Iran’s terrorist branches around us. Those who seek to wrap us in a stranglehold of terror will encounter an overwhelming response,” he added.

The JPost also reported that Netanyahu said that the proof of the Jewish victory in the aftermath of the Holocaust can be seen in the fact that Israel is a free, vibrant democracy, and an object of admiration around the world.

During his speech, the prime minister told the story of a Holocaust survivor, Benjamin Zeev Wertzberger, who was born in Hungary and survived the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria before making his way to Israel after the Holocaust, according to the JPost report.

“There is no other country in the world whose sons and daughters would have managed to rise from the ashes of destruction and soar to the heights of revival. Despite its many challenges, Israel is a rising world power, an object of admiration for its extraordinary capabilities,” Netanyahu said. “Despite the difficulties he endured, despite being the sole survivor of his family, Wertzberger refused to give up on his dreams. At an advanced age, he chose to start working at the Western Wall. For him, it was the overwhelming victory over the oppressor – the triumphant proof that the nation of Israel is alive. Every day that he worked at the Kotel, and as he shined and cleaned the stones of the Kotel, he felt the enormous turn in our nation’s history, the turn from a beacon to a resurrection, “ the prime minister added, as was reported by the JPost.

“All his acquaintances and family say: there was no happier person than him,” said Netanyahu. “Benjamin Zeev passed away a year and a half ago at the age of 95, but his grandchildren and great-grandchildren are with us tonight. The generations and descendants of Holocaust survivors, and their presence in Yad Vashem, is “a sign and example of victory over our enemies.”

“And it goes without saying, this victory cannot erase the intensity of our nation’s tragedy in the Holocaust: entire communities were destroyed, millions of our brothers and sisters were slaughtered in horrific deaths, and in addition to them, millions of other peoples were murdered. Moral values were trampled, human culture was destroyed, the image of man was degraded to dust. These painful scars will stay with us forever.”

“And despite all this, we must remember the unique victory of the people of Israel,” he said, turning his attention to the present day, the JPost reported, “The pinnacle of victory is the independence of our 75-year-old country. Israel is a free, vibrant, democratic, high-achieving country. A country that we all build together generation after generation.”