Sirens wailed across Israel on Thursday as traffic and pedestrians came to a complete halt in remembrance of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
For two minutes sirens could be heard blaring across the country on one of its most solemn days. Cars pulled over on highways, pedestrians stopped in place, heads bowed, and the nation stood still.
Israel comes to a standstill with a two-minute siren wailing across the country in remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. https://t.co/dVUR96NWIT pic.twitter.com/LBICcwpV32
— ABC News (@ABC) May 2, 2019
Holocaust Remembrance Day, known as Yom HaShoah in Israel, was established in 1959, about a decade after the formation of the state of Israel. Six million Jewish people were killed by Nazi Germany in the largest genocide in human history; a third of the world’s Jews were killed during the atrocity.
Based on the Hebrew calendar, Yom HaShoah marks the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising. During the uprising, Jews in Warsaw pushed back against Nazi forces in a brazen, but failed, act of resistance.
The commemorations for the day began around sunset Wednesday evening at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial. At the event Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned rising anti-Semitism and threats by the Iranian regime, he said that Israel “will not present its neck for the slaughter in the face of threats of destruction.”
After the sirens and the moment of contemplation, events took place across the country to memorialize the tragedy. Ceremonies and prayers were held in schools, military bases, and cities across Israel.
