Yad Vashem Homepage Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day
General information about Holocaust Remembrance Day: including description and schedule of events that will take place marking the day Rational explaining this year's theme of: Until The Last Jew...Until The Last Name Photos and Pages of Testimony related to: Until The Last Jew...Until The Last Name Artwork from Yad Vashem's Art Museum Collection related to this year's theme Names for Name Reading, Ceremonies Download, Pages of Testimony for Submission, Online Ceremonies, Torchlighters, Events During the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Day Ceremony, six torches symbolizing the six million Jews are lit.

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 in Warsaw Ghetto Square 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 began this year on Sunday evening, April 18th, 2004 and continued Monday, April 19th, 2004.

 

PROGRAM OF EVENTS AT YAD VASHEM

 

The Eve of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day

Sunday, April 18, 2004

 

20:00 The opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, in the presence of President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Knesset Speaker Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, Warsaw Ghetto Square

Admission to the opening ceremony is by invitation only.

For details, tel: 02 6443570/1. Limited space available.

22:00  Symposium: “And these are the names of the Children of Israel…” with the participation of Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Dr. Dina Vardi and Mr. Eran Tzur, Auditorium

 

Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day,

Monday, April 19, 2004

 

10:00 Siren

10:02  Wreath-laying ceremony with the participation of the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Knesset, the President of the Supreme Court, the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, the Chief of the General Staff, the Chief of Police, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the Mayor of Jerusalem, public figures, survivors’ organizations, school children and delegations from all over the country, Warsaw Ghetto Square

10:30-12:30 “Unto Every Person There is a Name” - recitation of names of Holocaust victims by members of the public, Hall of Remembrance, and from 11.00 at the Knesset, under the auspices of Speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin MK.

13:00 Main memorial ceremony, Hall of Remembrance

16.00  Memorial ceremony for former members of the Jewish Resistance in France, Auditorium

17:30 Ceremony for youth movements - in conjunction with the Mateh Hasbara, the Youth and Social Administration and the Youth Movement Council of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Valley of the Communities

Meetings with survivors, multimedia workshops, guided tours and creative workshops will be taking place throughout the day at the International School for Holocaust Studies.  For details, please call 02-6443631/629.

 

Additional information

On Remembrance Day Eve, Sunday, April 18, 2004 Yad Vashem will be open to the public from 09:00 until 12:00.  

At 17:30, invitees to the opening ceremony will be admitted to the site.

At 21.30, the site will be opened to those wishing to attend the symposium.

On Remembrance Day, Monday, April 19, 2004 Yad Vashem will be open to the public from 08:00 until 19:00.

Private vehicles will not be admitted to Yad Vashem on Remembrance Day Eve or on Remembrance Day itself.

Parking facilities are available on Mt. Herzl.

Transportation from Mt. Herzl to Yad Vashem will be available to the public for all Remembrance Day events.

The public is invited to visit two exhibitions currently on display:

“No Child’s Play”: Children in the Holocaust - Creativity and Play   Art Museum

“Synagogues of Salonika - Community and Continuity” Valley of the Communities

 

All events are open to the public

Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority