Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day will be observed this year on Wednesday evening and Thursday. The official state opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem, on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem. President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will both deliver remarks at the ceremony.
Wednesday
Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Israel Meir Lau will kindle the memorial torch, and Moshe Meron will speak on behalf of the survivors. Holocaust survivor Beni Harel will recite El Maleh Rahamim, the Jewish prayer for the souls of the martyrs.
Israeli singers Ester Rada and Ron Buchnik, as well as the IDF Paratroopers’ Honor Guard, will participate in the ceremony, which will include narrative pieces by actor Noa Koler. The MC will be Danny Cushmaro.
Yad Vashem will broadcast the state opening ceremony live with simultaneous translation into English, French, Spanish, German, Hebrew and Russian via its websites in their respective languages. Additionally, Yad Vashem will offer simultaneous Arabic translation on the Yad Vashem Arabic YouTube Channel. A live feed will be accessible in English and Hebrew via Facebook.
Thursday
At 10 a.m. on Thursday, a two-minute siren will be heard across Israel, followed by a ceremony at Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem in the presence of the president, prime minister, speaker of the Knesset and president of the Supreme Court.
At 11 a.m., the “Everyone Has a Name” ceremonies will be held in the Knesset and at the Yizkor tent.
At 1 p.m., the main memorial service will be held at the Yizkor tent.
At 3 p.m., the March of the Living will take place again for the first time in three years at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Holocaust Remembrance Day events will close at 8 p.m. at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, attended by President Herzog.
Yad Vashem Online
Yad Vashem has created special mini-sites dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day, containing information about the events and ceremonies taking place throughout the day. Also included in the mini-sites are relevant educational materials and a new online exhibition titled, Deportation of the Jews during the Holocaust – Stories of the Last Deportees, June 1944-April 1945.
"Generations Light the Way"
Yad Vashem, Tzohar, “Zikaron BaSalon” and “Our Six Million” (“Shem VeNer”) invite the public on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day to take part in the “Generations Light the Way” initiative by lighting six memorial candles in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust and reciting the traditional mourner’s prayer and/or the poem “Nizkor – Let us Remember” by Holocaust survivor Abba Kovner.
Special Activities on the Mount of Remembrance
After the traditional wreath-laying ceremony on Thursday morning, the public is invited to participate in a range of activities around the Yad Vashem campus, including the reading of Holocaust victims’ names in the Hall of Remembrance, and exclusive behind-the-scenes presentations by a range of Yad Vashem experts.
Yad Vashem will be offering two English-language tours of the Holocaust History Museum on Thursday. The first will take place at 1:15 p.m., with the second being offered virtually for the international audience at 7 p.m. EST.
For more information contact Yad Vashem at www.yadvashem.org.