Yom Hashoah
The festival marks the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was the most horrific event to befall the Jewish people.
What does Yom Hashoah mean?
Yom Hashoah simply translates as "Holocaust Day".
What are the customs of Yom Hashoah?
Every year, since 1989, the Knesset, in Israel, in cooperation with Yad Vashem performs a ceremony in which the names of all of the holocaust victims are read out loud. Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Martyrs and Remembrance Museum, where many Jews go to pay their respects to the victims of the Shoah.
The Holocaust of European Jewry can be divided into four periods:
1933-1939
The aim of the Nazis during this time was to "cleanse" Germany of the Jewish people. The Jewish citizens were totally excluded from all forms of public life. At the end of 1938, the government initiated a Pogrom against the Jews. This all took place on the night known as Kristallnacht. This night involved the "spilling of Jewish blood".
1939-1941
During this time, the option of Jews being allowed to emigrate was no longer allowed. More Jewish populations fell under the German control: Jews of Poland, Italy, France and Belgium. The Jews were placed in concentration camps. The police force of Hitler, the infamous Gestapo, became the most deadly force of the Nazi government.
1941-1943
This was the time of the Final Solution. It was systematic genocide of the Jewish people. Many concentration camps became death camps. Some of the more well-known extermination camps were Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Treblinka and Belzec.
1943-1945
During this time, the Nazis continued with their plan of destruction of the Jewish population. In July 1944, the Nazis began the evacuation of Auschwitz, and in January 1945, Himmler commanded the evacuation of all camps.
In the Holocaust, approximately six million Jews were murdered.
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