WATCH: Knesset holds annual ‘Every Person Has a Name’ ceremony on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.
TLDR
- The Knesset held its annual "Every Person Has a Name" ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day, with participation from top Israeli officials.
- Dignitaries, including the President and Prime Minister, read the names of family members lost in the Holocaust.
- The ceremony highlighted that many Holocaust victims remain nameless, with millions of names collected but millions more still missing.
The Knesset, Israel's parliament, convened its solemn annual "Every Person Has a Name" ceremony to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. This deeply significant event saw the participation of the nation's highest officials, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Supreme Court Chief Justice Isaac Amit, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Four million and eight hundred thousand names have been collected by Yad Vashem for the Book of Names project, yet at least another million names are still missing.
During the ceremony, leaders and lawmakers read aloud the names of their own family members who perished in the Holocaust, connecting the national tragedy to personal legacies. Prime Minister Netanyahu shared poignant details about his father-in-law, a Holocaust survivor, and read a poem he wrote, followed by the names of relatives lost. President Herzog also read names from his own family tree.
Entire families, and sometimes entire communities, were wiped off the face of the earth, leaving not even a trace, not even a single survivor to testify that they ever existed.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana underscored the profound loss, noting that while millions of names have been collected by Yad Vashem, at least a million more are still missing. He emphasized that entire families and communities were annihilated, leaving no survivors to bear witness. The ceremony also included the presentation of stories from six Holocaust survivors, each representing the memory of millions, with a torch lit after each account.
May the memory of all Holocaust victims, including those who remain without a name, be blessed forever. May their blood be avenged.
Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.