Remembering A Dark Time In History
Every year Israel and Jews around the world mark Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) in mid-April. This year it begins in the evening of Wednesday, April 18 and ends in the evening of Thursday, April 19.
Shoah, which means catastrophe or utter destruction in Hebrew, refers to the atrocities that were committed against the Jewish people during World War II. This year, Israel has invited a group of Roma people, widely known as gypsies, to attend the state ceremony. Besides Jewish people, hundreds of thousands of Roma as well as other political and religious dissidents were killed by Hitler, who was determined to rid his country of any race he considered inferior.
The Warsaw Uprising
The day also marks the anniversary of the Warsaw uprising on April 19, 1943. As you are aware, Jewish people were rounded up by Hitler's army and sent to concentration camps (ghettos) where they were forced to work under dreadful conditions. The largest of these was the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland's capital Warsaw. Nearly 300,000 to 400,000 Jews were packed into this camp, and many thousands died from disease and starvation.
When Nazi Germany started deporting people from this camp in 1940, many believed they were being transferred to another labor camp. However, by the end of 1942, it became clear that these people were being sent to be killed. The remaining Jews in the Ghetto staged an uprising that lasted for a month. Even though it was suppressed by the Nazis, it was the single largest revolt during the Holocaust.
Today, most synagogues and Jewish communities gather together to remember the day through worship and lighting of yellow candles, music and stories from survivors. The day has a bigger meaning to all of us -- that the world has a moral obligation to not stand by and allow such persecutions to take place in any part of the world. A timely lesson given the strife in many parts of the world.
We received a poem from one of our young readers.
A Tribute By Rachel Kenney, 14
...And the World Remained Silent
Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Austria, Netherlands, Luxembourg...
They were herded, fifty and more to a cattle car.
Taken from their homes to strange, unfamiliar places.
Ripped away from their families, waving goodbye for
perhaps the last time.
...And the World remained silent.
They were overworked, under-clothed, and starved.
They worked for no pay, froze in the winter,
suffered in the summer heat.
Malnourished and underweight they were forced
to surrender to death's cruel hand.
...And the World remained silent.
They were slaughtered, hung, and shot like animals.
Laid in graves dug by the near-dead.
Forced to offer their necks to cruelty.
...And the World remained silent.
When all was over, and they were remembered,
they returned to the places they used to call home.
They searched the lists, asked neighbors, only to
realize the intolerable truth.
...And the World remained silent.
Today the World commemorates the six million
dead and the still-suffering survivors.
Speeches are given, days are designated, and
memoirs are read.
They've been given museums, monuments, and
memorials.
And yet when they truly needed something,
...The World remained silent.
My family has a little Jewish ancestry, and just to hear this topic be brought up is heart-wrenching! This was probably one of the worst events in history.
THis is a terrible thing to have to talk about. It's part of a terrible thing in history that happened! We learned about it in school, and so many died for no good reason.
That is very interesting
That's scary.
That is so sad that the Holocaust Remembrance Day
i think that was the most tragic poem i'v ever read
WOW I am speechless
that is quite devastating. i feel incredibly sorry for their families.
Me too.......
No Kidding
Wow
A very sad, however rememberable day.
The holocaust is very intresting to learn about. It was a terrible, awful time for the jews because they were killed and kept to work in camps with numbers instead of names.
very interesting, but was a very tragic day.
I wrote a current event about this. It is such a horrible event! We should feel happy we were not in that
This is very sad we just finished our holocaust unit. If only they had got out in time.
That was a really good poem about the tragedy.
A beautifully written poem about a tragically horrifying time in our history. It is heartbreaking that so many lives were lost before something was done.
The holocaust was vary cool but sad.millons and millons of jews died and or were killed.I hpoe that something like that will never happen again!!!!!!!!
There was nothing cool about it at all. People were murdered by the thousands. Babies were killed, children were overworked only to be gased, parents were stripped from their children and often burned. Nothing was cool about it. It was horrible and despicable on the part of the Nazis.
That is very interesting!
I think they should have never had concentration camps because thats not right to starve people until they die.
that is the most tragic event I have [possibly] ever seen. I didnt even know about the holocaust. Very devastating.
It is depressing that so many people had to go to camp with out a choice or opinion, just because there was war.
I like the dark place and the little candle,because I can think something serious.
I feel so sorry for those people who had to suffer through all of this. It is only natural that they have a day to remember the dreadful and horrific experiences.
omg thats so devastating
Wow I didn't know any of this.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events that have ever happened. Millions of Jews died in concentration camp, and thousands and thousands more were nearly dead. God bless all Holocaust survivors and everyone who has been effected by it.
i completly agree