You are receiving this newsletter because like us, Holocaust commemoration is meaningful and important to you. Together, we have made great strides in gathering the names of the Jews murdered in the Shoah. To date there are 4.2 million names documented on the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names.
Do you feel that you have already done everything you can to help recover all the missing names that you possibly can? Perhaps you have neighbors or acquaintances that have more names to give? Maybe they submitted Pages of testimony for their family members but still know of friends and neighbors who might not yet be registered. Please reach out to your circle of family, friends, personal and professional acquaintances and ask if they have (more) names to commemorate. Your personal reminder will make the difference and possibly determine whether one more life will be remembered – or not.
President Obama at Yad Vashem
US President Barack Obama will visit Yad Vashem on Friday, March 22, 2013. He will visit the Hall of Names, the Museum of Holocaust Art, participate in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, and visit the Children’s Memorial, before signing the Yad Vashem Guest Book. President Obama will be accompanied by President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. During the President’s previous visit, in July 2008, he toured the Holocaust History Museum.
Defiance and Rebellion during the Holocaust: 70 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The notions of "defiance" and "rebellion" are fundamentally important to any discussion concerning the Holocaust – and rightly so. In the ghettos and camps, indeed in every place with a Jewish populace and Jewish life, there was some form of protest or resistance to the plot to obliterate the Jewish nation. From flight to hiding, mutual help efforts to educational and creative activities as well as the observance of Jewish rites – even with the scarcest of means and in the most unthinkable conditions – all these acts embodied the relentless struggle of Jewish individuals and communities to counteract the restrictions and dangers raining down upon them – and against all odds, sometimes, to live to see the day of victory. Click here to read about the Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2013, Defiance and Rebellion during the Holocaust: 70 Years Since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Submit Names to be Recited At Yad Vashem's Hall of Remembrance
Those who would like to have the names of their loved ones who perished in the Holocaust read in the Hall of Remembrance on Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day are invited to submit the details of those whose names they would like read. We will ask one of the participants in the ceremony to read the names on your behalf. Please note - the name reading ceremony will take place on April 8th. Names may be submitted by April 4th.
Scroll of Names Given to Yad Vashem
Read the story of a special Megila that was recently brought to Yad Vashem – a scroll with 1,349 names of Jews from the town of Pinczow (Kielce region) in Poland who were murdered in the Shoah. The names, written in a beautiful script in Hebrew in alphabetical order, will be meshed into Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names
“And You Shall Tell Your Children”, Marking the Holiday of Passover Before, During and After the Holocaust
The imperative to remember is a significant element of the Passover holiday, and part of its tradition and rituals. Visit our online exhibit: “And You Shall Tell Your Children”, Marking the Holiday of Passover Before, During and After the Holocaust - where through photos, artifacts and personal testimonies, we explore and remember some of the ways Passover was observed throughout Europe prior to the Holocaust, during the Holocaust years, and in the displaced persons camps and children’s homes following the war.