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 Hebrew 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 live. 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.
Throughout the day, both the television and radio
broadcast programs about the Holocaust. In recent years, other countries and
Jewish communities have adopted Yom Hashoah, the 27th of Nisan, to mark their
own day of memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day
2022 will be on Thursday, April 28th. The State Opening Ceremony will be held
at Yad Vashem on Wednesday, April 27th at 20:00.