International Holocaust Remembrance Day

     Yom HaShoa was established by the new State of Israel in 1951. It is observed on the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan which typically falls in late April or early May. This date was chosen by the Israeli government to mark the anniversary of the April 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a key moment of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. On Yom HaShoa the sound of a siren briefly stops all traffic and pedestrians throughout the State of Israel. All theatres, cinemas and places of entertainment are closed in Israel on Yom HaShoa.

     Over 50 years later, in 2005, the United Nations established January 27th as International Holocaust Day— marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most deadly Nazi concentration camp. The United Nations designated this day to remember the six million Jews who perished, and to honor those who survived. International Holocaust Day is an opportunity to renew a commitment to human freedom and justice and to condemn anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred.