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A Holocaust memorial day or Holocaust remembrance day is an annual observance to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide of six million Jews and of millions of other Holocaust victims by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. Many countries, primarily in Europe, have designated national dates of commemoration. In 2005, the United Nations instituted an international observance, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Many observances fall on 27 January, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, while other countries selected separate dates, often to mark anniversaries of national events during the Holocaust. Holocaust remembrance days often include efforts to combat hatred and antisemitism.
Country | Day | Name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
United Nations | 27 January | International Holocaust Remembrance Day | Designated by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005. [1] |
Azerbaijan | 27 January | Day of the Tragedy and Heroism of the Jews | |
Australia | 27 January [2] | International Holocaust Remembrance Day | |
Austria | 5 May | Memorial Day against Violence and Racism in Memory on the Victims of National Socialism German : Gedenktag gegen Gewalt und Rassismus im Gedenken an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus | The day that the concentration camp Mauthausen was liberated in 1945. |
Belgium | 27 January | International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust French : Journée internationale de la commémoration en mémoire des victims de la Shoah | |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 27 January | International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust | |
Bulgaria | 10 March | Holocaust Remembrance Day and the "Day of the Salvation of the Bulgarian Jews and of the Victims of the Holocaust and of the Crimes against Humanity" | The day of the revocation of the plan to expel the country's Jewish population, officially designated in 2003. [3] |
Canada - Alberta, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia | 27 Nisan (April/May) | The Canadian provinces of Alberta, [4] Manitoba, [5] and Nova Scotia [6] enacted legislation to recognize Holocaust Memorial Day in 2000. [7] | Note: Other provinces of Canada have made the same enactment so the Canadian entry needs a full updating[ citation needed ] |
Croatia | 27 January | Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity | |
Czech Republic | 27 January | Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust and Prevention of Crimes against Humanity Czech : Den památky obětí holocaustu a předcházení zločinu proti lidskosti | |
Denmark | 27 January | Auschwitz Day of Holocaust and Genocide Remembrance | |
Estonia | 27 January [8] | Holocaust Remembrance Day Holokausti mälestuspäev | |
Finland | 27 January | Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Vainojen uhrien muistopäivä) | |
France | 16 July | Anniversary of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup French : Anniversaire de la rafle du Vélodrome d'hiver . | Remembrance marking the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews in Paris in 1942 and their extermination at Auschwitz. |
Germany | 27 January | Memorial Day for the Victims of National Socialism | German : Tag des Gedenkens an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus |
Greece | 27 January | National Holocaust Memorial Day Greek : Εθνική Ημέρα Μνήμης Ολοκαυτώματος (Ethniki Imera Mnimis Olokaftomatos) | Since 2004. [9] |
Hungary | 16 April | Holocaust Memorial Day | Since 2001. [10] |
Ireland | Sunday closest to 27 January | National Holocaust Memorial Day Irish : An Lá Idirnáisiúnta Cuimhneacháin ar íospartaigh an Uileloiscthe | |
Israel (and many Jewish communities in other countries) | 27 Nisan (April/May) | Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Day), or Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laGvura (Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day) | Both an Israeli day of remembrance and a day of remembrance observed by many Jewish communities in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The date relates both to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising which began 13 days earlier on the first night of Passover 1943, and to the Israeli Independence Day which is eight days later. [11] |
Italy | 27 January | Memorial Day | Italian : Giorno della Memoria |
Latvia | 4 July | Commemoration Day of the Victims of the Genocide Against the Jewish People Ebreju tautas genocīda upuru piemiņas diena | Burning of the Great Choral Synagogue in Riga in 1941. [12] |
Lithuania | 23 September | Day of the Genocide of Lithuania's Jews Lietuvos žydų genocido diena | Anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto in 1943. |
Luxembourg | 27 January | Holocaust Memorial Day | |
Netherlands | last Sunday of January | National Holocaust Remembrance | Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 1945. |
North Macedonia | 27 January | ||
Norway | 27 January | Holocaust Memorial Day | |
Poland | 27 January | International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust | Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. [13] |
Portugal | 27 January | Holocaust Remembrance Day | |
Romania | 9 October | National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust Romanian : Ziua Naţională de Comemorare a Holocaustului | |
Serbia | 22 April | Holocaust Remembrance Day Dan sećanja na žrtve holokausta | |
Slovakia | 9 September | Holocaust Victims and Racial Hatred Day | On 9 September 1941, Slovakia passed anti-Jewish laws based on the Nuremberg laws. [14] |
Slovenia | 27 January | National Holocaust Remembrance Day | |
Spain | 27 January | Day for Holocaust Remembrance and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity Día Oficial de la Memoria del Holocausto y la Prevención de los Crímenes contra la Humanidad | |
Sweden | 27 January | Holocaust Remembrance Day Förintelsens minnesdag | A national remembrance day every year since 1999. |
Switzerland | 27 January | International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust | |
Taiwan (Republic of China) | 27 January 25 February | Holocaust Memorial Day (大屠殺陣亡將士紀念日) (Dà túshā zhènwáng jiàngshì jìniàn rì) | In addition to the European events, the ROC/Taiwan also honors the victims of the February 28 incident. [15] |
Ukraine | 27 January | Holocaust Memorial Day | Since 2020. [16] |
United Kingdom | 27 January | Holocaust Memorial Day | First held in January 2001 and on the same date every year since. |
United States | 8-day period, from the Sunday before Yom Hashoah to the Sunday after Yom Hashoah | Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) | Established by Congress in 1979 as the period for remembrance programs and ceremonies. |
As of 2004 [update] , twelve countries observed January 27, the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, including Germany, Britain, Italy and Scandinavian countries. In 2003 France designated this date as the day of remembrance of genocides and prevention of crimes against humanity. [17] In 2004 Israel designated this date as a mark of the struggle against antisemitism.
As of 2004 [update] , eleven countries in Europe had chosen dates related to local histories.
The Romani Holocaust was the planned effort by Nazi Germany and its World War II allies and collaborators to commit ethnic cleansing and eventually genocide against European Roma and Sinti peoples during the Holocaust era.
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah, known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day. The first official commemorations took place in 1951, and the observance of the day was anchored in a law passed by the Knesset in 1959. It is held on the 27th of Nisan, unless the 27th would be adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, in which case the date is shifted by a day.
This is a selected bibliography and other resources for The Holocaust, including prominent primary sources, historical studies, notable survivor accounts and autobiographies, as well as other documentation and further hypotheses.
Holocaust Memorial Day is a national commemoration day in the United Kingdom dedicated to the remembrance of the Jews and others who suffered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution. It was first held in January 2001 and has been on the same date every year since. The chosen date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Union in 1945, the date also chosen for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and some other national Holocaust Memorial Days.
On 27 January 2005, the United Nations General Assembly held a special session in remembrance of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on the same day of 1945. This is the first time that the international organization made a remembrance of victims of the Holocaust as a way to prevent future genocides. Also, the General Assembly declared January 27 as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
The Montreal Holocaust Museum is a museum located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is dedicated to educating people of all ages and backgrounds about the Holocaust, while sensitizing the public to the universal perils of antisemitism, racism, hate and indifference. Through the museum, its commemorative programs and educational initiatives, it aims to promote respect for diversity and the sanctity of human life. The Museum was founded in 1979 as the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre and is Canada's first and only recognized Holocaust museum.
The March of the Living is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish calendar, thousands of participants march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, an attempt to implement its "final solution" to the Jewish question. 27 January was chosen to commemorate the date when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on Holocaust remembrance called for the establishment of a programme of outreach on the subject of the "Holocaust and the United Nations" and measures to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide. Since its establishment by the Department of Public Information in January 2006, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme has developed an international network of civil society groups and a multi-faceted programme that includes: innovative online educational products, youth outreach, DVDs, seminars and training programmes, a film series, book signings, a permanent exhibit at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and the annual worldwide observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is a museum on the site of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim, Poland.
The World Holocaust Forum is a series of events aimed at preserving the memory of the Holocaust. It is also known as the "Let My People Live!" Forum.
The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) is an annual eight-day period designated by the United States Congress for civic commemorations and special educational programs that help citizens remember and draw lessons from the Holocaust. The annual DRVH period normally begins on the Sunday before the Israeli observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and continues through the following Sunday, usually in April or May. A National Civic Commemoration is held in Washington, D.C., with state, city, and local ceremonies and programs held in most of the fifty states, and on U.S. military ships and stations around the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum designates a theme for each year's programs, and provides materials to help support remembrance efforts.
The Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma was established in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1990s, as a memorial to Sinti and Roma people who were killed by the National Socialists Party. After several years of extension work collecting stories from the victims, conducting research, and conversion, the building complex was ceremonially opened to the public on 16 March 1997, and was supported by the attendance of many Roma and Sinti survivors. It is the world's first permanent exhibition on the genocide perpetrated upon the Sinti and Roma by the Nazis. The documentation Centre has three levels and covers an area of almost 700 square meters, and traces the history and stories of the persecution of the Sinti and Roma under National Socialism. The institution is overseen by Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, supported by the city of Heidelberg, and is the beneficiary of special funds from the German Federal Government and the land of Baden-Württemberg.
The first mass transport of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp departed from Poprad transit camp in the Slovak Republic on 25 March 1942 and arrived at its destination on 26 March. It was the beginning of systematic deportation of Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp by the Reich Security Main Office and also the first transport of Jews from Slovakia.
On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz—a Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp in occupied Poland where more than a million people were murdered as part of the Nazis' "Final Solution" to the Jewish question—was liberated by the Soviet Red Army during the Vistula–Oder Offensive. Although most of the prisoners had been forced onto a death march, about 7,000 had been left behind. The Soviet soldiers attempted to help the survivors and were shocked at the scale of Nazi crimes. The date is recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Romi Cohn was a Czechoslovakian-born American Rabbi, and real estate developer.
The Roma Holocaust Memorial Day is a memorial day that commemorates the victims of the Romani genocide (Porajmos), which resulted in the murder of an estimated 220,000–500,000 Romani people by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The date of 2 August was chosen for the memorial because on the night of 2–3 August 1944, 2,897 Roma, mostly women, children and elderly people, were killed in the Gypsy family camp (Zigeunerfamilienlager) at Auschwitz concentration camp. Some countries have chosen to commemorate the genocide on different dates.
Kalman Sultanik was a prominent Zionist figure who was active in numerous Jewish and Zionist organizations throughout his life. He was a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, served on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel and became vice president of the World Jewish Congress as well as chairman of the World Zionist Organization American Section. He founded the Jerusalem Confederation House and led the World Confederation of United Zionists for decades. Sultanik was also active in assisting the Polish community of Holocaust survivors.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation (ABMF) was founded in New York, USA, in 2012 as a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the preservation of the original artifacts and grounds of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau, supervised by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, Poland.
The Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism on January 27 has been a nationwide, legally established day of remembrance in Germany since 1996. It is observed on the anniversary of January 27, 1945, the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and the two other Auschwitz concentration camps by the Red Army in the last year of World War II. In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27 as the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Since then, the day of remembrance has also been observed in many European countries.