• For the Ceremony, click here

Introduction

In Israel, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration, 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. For more about Holocaust Marytrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day in Israel, click here

The Liberation of Auschwitz

It was at Auschwitz that about 1 million Jews, and scores of thousands of others, who were persecuted for political and racial reasons, were brutally murdered as part of the extensive system of camps and killing sites established by the Nazis and their partners as part of the Final Solution.

Jews from all over Europe, who had already suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis and their partners, were deported to Auschwitz, where they were subjected to a process of selection.  Some were sent to their deaths immediately in the gas chamber – crematoria complex, whereas others were chosen to perform forced labor.  They lived under the shadow of ongoing selections, and at most their reprieve from death was meant to be temporary. Those who survived, against all the odds, were indelibly marked by their experiences. [for more background click on Auschwitz Album, FAQ – Extermination Camps]

It is clear in the writings of survivors and those who have researched Auschwitz, that language is often insufficient to express the reality of the human suffering and the evil in the camp. One Auschwitz survivor, Yehiel Dinur, who has written of his experiences and assumed the pen name Katzetnik (camp slang for inmate), has termed the camp “planet Auschwitz.” Despite the difficulty implied in such a term, mankind still feels a great need to approach an understanding of Auschwitz and the horrors of the Holocaust – to engage in research and writing about them and discuss their ramifications in the classroom. 

The Israeli poet Dan Pagis reminds us all, that Auschwitz was not really on another planet, but was created in Europe in the middle of the 20^th century.

“No no: they definitely were
Human beings: uniforms, boots.
How to explain? They were created
In the image”

(Quoted from: The Selected Poetry of Dan Pagis, Trans. By Stephen Mitchell, University of California Press, London, 1989, p. 33)

Auschwitz was liberated after most of the inmates had been removed from the camp and sent on “death marches” deeper into Nazi controlled territory.  Nonetheless, the liberators were appalled and horrified at what they found: 7650 emaciated and sick inmates barely living among the remnants of the factory of death.  For many survivors liberation was bitter-sweet, others were too weak to even be aware of what was taking place around them.  Liberation meant the end of persecution, the coming of food, drink and medicine. At the same time it was the start of confrontation with their immense loss.  The entry of the Red Army troops removed the shroud of secrecy from the camp and exposed its horror to the eyes of the world.

About the ceremony

The ceremony presented here is designed to help educators, community leaders and other interested parties to commemorate the Holocaust.

The ceremony is in "PDF" format. To view a file in PDF format, you need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free application distributed by Adobe Systems.

The ceremony will focus on the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The ceremony will include fragments of literature and testimonies describing the torment and suffering of those who entered its gates, along with brief historic explanations about stages of Nazi policy, and also a brief background about some of the main figures whose work is included in the ceremony. The ceremony will also incorporate songs, prayers and pictures.

  click here to download the ceremony (937 KB)