Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday. A siren sounded throughout the country at 10:00 a.m., as Israelis stood for a moment of silence in memory of Holocaust victims. Some 10,000 people attended a series of memorial events at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, where experts spoke and historical documents from the time of the Holocaust were presented. Immediately following the siren, there was a wreath-laying ceremony at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial monument at Yad Vashem attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, representatives from Holocaust survivor organizations and delegations from Israel and around the world. Also on Thursday, the Knesset held the annual memorial titled "Unto Every Person There is a Name," where the names of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust were read. Among those reading this year were Rivlin and his wife, Nehama, Netanyahu, Supreme Court President Justice Miriam Naor, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau along with other ministers and Knesset members. Netanyahu told those present that his father-in-law, Shmuel Ben-Artzi, was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and he read the names of his relatives who perished. Holocaust survivors and their family members lit memorial candles during the ceremony. Also present at the ceremony were Arab MKs Ayman Odeh (Joint Arab List) and Issawi Frej (Meretz). On Thursday evening, thousands attended a memorial event marking the end of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot. Speaking at the event, Rivlin blasted the recent statements made by members of the British Labour Party. "Institutional voices are expressing themselves in a manner that is befitting Der Sturmer [Nazi newspaper]," he said. At a similar closing ceremony at Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said, "We must remember not only those who perished in the Holocaust, but also those who remained alive. The fact that Holocaust survivors are living in poverty is inconceivable, and it is our responsibility as members of the government to work toward changing the situation." 'Where was the world-' Meanwhile in Poland, some 10,000 people from 40 countries participated in the March of the Living along the path linking the former Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The 3-kilometer (2-mile) march was run by the March of the Living organization for the 28th time this year. The sound of the shofar, a ram's horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies, signaled the beginning of the march to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, as participants, many of them draped in Israeli flags, called out, "The people of Israel live on." The March of the Living is both a silent tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and the name of an annual educational program to study the history of the Holocaust and to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hate. Students visit the death camps created by the Nazis in the occupied Polish territories during World War II. Young people also get the rare opportunity to meet with the last witnesses of the Holocaust. "To tell them, to educate them: This is the whole thing. That this never ever happens again," one survivor, Edward Mosberg, told Reuters. Mosberg, who now lives in the United States, was accompanied at the march by his young granddaughter. This year, the march was led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and among the participants was former Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi and current Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, himself a Holocaust survivor. Several Knesset members and lawmakers from other countries also took part in the memorial march. Shaked spoke at the event, sharply criticizing Europe's behavior, both during the Holocaust and now. "Here, at Birkenau, a painful question is raised," she said. "Where was the world? Where were the enlightened Western nations when they began to abuse the Jews? Where were the armies of the developed countries? There is no getting around it -- the entire world abandoned the Jews." She went on to address the criticism Israel currently faces around the world, saying, "Hatred of Israel is none other than the new anti-Semitism. It is up to us to remember that even today, there are calls to destroy the Jewish people. It is up to us to remember that even today, anti-Semitism is still alive and well and continues to sow death." As the participants arrived at the gates of Birkenau, some bowed their heads or knelt down to pray at the railway tracks that brought victims to the extermination camp from across Europe. Some wept as they prayed alone, others as they gathered in small groups, hugging friends. "My grandparents of blessed memory died in the Holocaust along with five of their seven children and I am here to say memorial prayers for them, out of respect and out of hope they are resting in peace," said Michael Berks, 77, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As a group from the United States approached the tracks, two survivors who had not met before, realizing they were both survivors, began chatting, exchanging information about their wartime experiences. The sight of the two elderly survivors caught the attention of those nearby, causing an interested group to surround the two. One of them, Salomon Birenbaum, wore a cap with stripes that recalled the prisoner garb at the camp. People wept as they watched, with some uttering "God bless you." Then, the other survivor, Anneliese Nossbaum, who was in a wheelchair, caught sight of the railroad tracks -- her first sight of them since she was an inmate there. "Why didn't they bomb those tracks? Why didn't the outside world help? The world failed us," she said. "That's why there is Israel now," said a woman from the United States. Several people lit little candles and placed them on the tracks, but the flames were extinguished quickly by the wind and a sudden rain that fell as people made their ways to the crematoria, now sunken ruins in the earth. People also left personal messages along the tracks. "Today I march for those who cannot. NEVER FORGET THE 6 MIL," read one.
Credit: Reuters
