Israel marks annual rite of remembrance
JERUSALEM — Israel came to a standstill on Monday as people stopped in their tracks for a two-minute siren that wailed across the country in remembrance of the Holocaust’s 6 million Jewish victims.
The ritual is the centerpiece of Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day for those who were systematically killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. Pedestrians stood in place, buses stopped on busy streets and cars pulled over on major highways — their drivers standing on the roads with their heads bowed.
In homes and businesses, people stopped what they were doing to pay homage to the victims of the Nazi genocide, in which a third of world Jewry was annihilated.
A wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial followed, with Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors in attendance. A public reading of names also took place in Israel’s parliament, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders recited names of relatives who were killed. Other ceremonies, prayers and musical performances took place in schools, community centers and army bases around the country.
The annual remembrance is one of the most solemn days on Israel’s calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment shut down, and radio and TV programs were dedicated almost exclusively to documentaries about the Holocaust, interviews with survivors and somber music. The Israeli flag flew at half-staff.
Israel was established in 1948, just three years after the end of the war, and hundreds of thousands of survivors fled there. An estimated 160,000 elderly survivors remain, with a similar number worldwide. With the passing years, and the dwindling number of survivors, greater emphasis has been put on commemorating their individual stories.
The central theme of this year’s commemorations at Yad Vashem was “Restoring Their Identities: The Fate of the Individual During the Holocaust.”
The Holocaust memorial called on the public to share testimony and provide more names of those who perished.
“It is a race against the clock to collect as many names of those murdered during the Holocaust before there are no more survivors left,” said Alexander Avram, the director of Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names.