In Germany and Austria, both non-Jewish and Jewish ceremonies and events mark this date. The anniversary of the November Pogrom has become another Holocaust memorial day, though not as universally observed as Yom HaShoah. Some 30,000 Jewish men were brought to concentration camps, in what is widely understood to be the first mass imprisonment of Jews in the camp system. On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazi leadership as well as civilians attacked synagogues and Jewish institutional buildings, as well as businesses and even private property across what is today Germany and Austria. Known primarily as the Novemberpogrom (November Pogrom) in the German-speaking world, those within the English-speaking world typically know it as Kristallnacht: Night of the Broken Glass. Novemberpogrom/Kristallnacht, November 9thĪnother date connected to Holocaust commemoration is the 9 th of November. In North America, most synagogues and Jewish groups offer programming and events for Yom HaShoah which may include lighting yahrzeit candles and reading lists of names of victims. Their observances look increasingly like Israeli observances. Since being added to the Jewish calendar in Israel, however, many Jewish communities across and beyond the denominational spectrum and around the world have started marking Yom HaShoah. In addition, the month of Nisan, when the date occurs, is considered a month of happiness, not a time of mourning. This is in part because these communities do not recognize or condone the secular Zionist state that established the day, and also because there are more more traditional days for mourning (Tisha B’Av, for example) and ways to mourn (standing for a moment of silence, for instance, has no prior precedent in Jewish tradition). Some Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities do not mark Yom HaShoah in a significant way. Not all Jewish communities in Israel observe Yom HaShoah. Other rituals include hearing testimony from survivors, lighting memorial ( yahrzeit) candles, reading the names of the deceased and wearing white. Various ceremonies are held by schools and youth groups, and there is state ceremony at Yad VaShem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial and Museum. A two minute siren is heard twice during the day. Many customs have become associated with the observance of Yom HaShoah in Israel. However, because observing Yom HaShoah on that day would interfere with the preparations for Passover, it was not seriously considered as a potential national memorial day. The 27 th of Nisan was chosen because it loosely corresponded to the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Erev Passover, the 14 th of Nisan. The Knesset, or Israeli parliament, passed the resolution creating Yom HaShoah in 1951. In many Jewish communities around the world, Yom HaShoah has become the primary Holocaust memorial day. Yom HaShoah, whose full name is Yom HaShoah V’HaGevurah, meaning the Day of the Holocaust and Heroism, is one of the more recent holidays added to the Jewish calendar. Yom HaShoah, 27th of Nisan (April or May) As a result, just as there are many physical Holocaust memorials and museums around the world, there are many annual dates for memorializing this tragedy. Since the end of World War II, Jewish communities have grappled with how and when to commemorate the Holocaust. Jewish history is replete with persecutions, but the systematic murder of two thirds of Europe’s Jews (6 million in total) in the Holocaust, or Shoah, altered Jews and Judaism forever. My Jewish Learning is a not-for-profit and relies on your help Donate
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