Israel came to a standstill on the morning of April 8 as a siren sounded for two minutes in memory of Holocaust victims.
Following the siren, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem Hall of Remembrance as part of Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Kerry then joined Israeli President Shimon Peres for the “Unto Every Person There Is a Name” ceremony held each year at the Knesset, where Peres read out the names of his relatives who were victims of the Holocaust.
The night before, at the national Yom HaShoah ceremony at Yad Vashem, Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hatred of Jews is still strong more than 70 years after the Holocaust began.
“The map of Europe still contains local stains of anti-Semitism,” Peres said at the ceremony in Jerusalem, his voice breaking with emotion.
“Not all the flames have been extinguished. Crises are once again exploited to form Nazi parties, ridiculous but dangerous. Sickening anti-Semitic cartoons are published allegedly in the name of press freedom.”
Six Holocaust survivors told their stories in a prerecorded video before they lit the six torches representing the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
The ceremony was broadcast on all Israeli television channels and on several radio stations. On Yom HaShoah in Israel, places of entertainment are closed and Holocaust-themed movies and documentaries are shown on television channels. Memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country. — jta