Prescient Holocaust Remembrance Day theme focuses on destroyed communities
Annual Holocaust commemoration in Jerusalem to include traditional elements while making space for the unprecedented Oct. 7 massacres in southern Israel and ongoing war with Hamas
Reporter at The Times of Israel
Yad Vashem determined the central theme for this year’s Yom Hashoah Holocaust commemoration before the October 7 massacres, but there’s an eerie resonance between those atrocities and “A Lost World: The Destruction of Jewish Communities.”
Taking place under the cloud of seven months of war with Hamas in Gaza, the theme has built-in associations with several Gaza-area Israeli communities that were largely destroyed. During the unprecedented Hamas rampage, 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 253 people kidnapped into Gaza, igniting the current round of war.
“The whole subject matter of this year’s theme is very much reminiscent of October 7,” Yad Vashem spokesperson Simmy Allen told The Times of Israel.
The commemoration opens Sunday evening at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Officially called Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day, the opening ceremony will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. Israel time.
During the Holocaust, thousands of Jewish communities were forever wiped out by the Nazis and their collaborators.
“Thousands of prewar Jewish communities had served as a fundamental and critical framework in the lives of the Jewish people,” said Yad Vashem. “The Jewish community, a unique, autonomous social unit that characterized Jewish existence in the Diaspora through the ages, was dealt a fatal blow by the Holocaust.”
Aspects of this year’s theme that are connected to current events include the poster chosen to represent the commemoration, as well as work undertaken by Yad Vashem’s current artist-in-resident, Shai Azoulay.
The Israeli artist’s exhibition — called “Bigger Than Me” — centers on the smallness of the individual within the framework of destruction. An example is a painting of a young man sitting in a shoe while adrift in a sea of blood.
“We experienced… a sample of the Holocaust. We got a sense, as a people, of what it means to experience a pogrom, and we were in shock, as though our limbs had been amputated, and it was a wake-up call,” Azoulay said of the Hamas massacres.
In his art for Yad Vashem, Azoulay filled canvasses with Holocaust symbols and Marc Chagall-like images of people floating through dreamlike scenes. The motif of people being overtaken appears several times, including in his most jarring October 7 work, which depicts a dark wave flattening the people beneath it.
“Obviously, there is no comparison between October 7 and the Holocaust — we are not talking about six million people here. But the sample gave us an inkling, it’s like a cover, that’s what this period gives us. All of a sudden, the Jews have woken up, the ghetto is back, the isolation,” said Azoulay.
As the artist explored Yad Vashem’s vast archives, he began to feel he had “stepped into shoes that were several sizes too big,” Azoulay said.
“Everything became electrified, connected, as if the threads had woven themselves together… The events [of October 7] transported me to the Holocaust, and I felt for a second that we were there,” Azoulay said.
‘Life and continuity’
The day for remembering the Holocaust was established by the government of Israel in 1959 to coincide with the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt. That act of mass rebellion in 1943 came to symbolize Holocaust resistance.
The ceremony crescendo takes place when six survivors each light one of six torches representing the Holocaust’s six million victims. This year’s torches will be lit by survivors Pnina Hefer; Allegra Gutta; Arie Eitani; Raisa Brodsky; Michael Bar-On, and Izi Kabilio. Short videos about each of the survivors’ lives will be available on Yad Vashem’s website.
Yad Vashem regularly invites members of the public to submit content to commemorate the Holocaust. This year’s poster was designed by Ira Ginzburg, whose grandmother — Frieda Teitelman — saw many of her family members taken away to be murdered in the forests of Ukraine.
“My grandmother’s story is a tale of life and continuity, and there is no better time to discuss the need for rebuilding and nurturing roots than these days after the October 7 massacre,” said Ginzburg. “The new branches depicted in the poster symbolize the renewal of my grandmother’s family, and the growth emerging from the devastation.”
Another opportunity for Yad Vashem to crowdsource is the museum’s “Who is Your Holocaust Hero?” campaign on social media. In recent months, the museum reached out to international leaders, influencers and actors to create 1-2 minute videos about their personal Holocaust hero.
So far, Yad Vashem has received “Holocaust Hero” video submissions from high-profile names including James Maslow, Ben Silverman, Patricia Heaton and Montana Tucker.
“The primary objective of this initiative is to foster Holocaust awareness, particularly among those who may be less informed, and to encourage others to share their own Holocaust heroes,” said spokesperson Allen.
“As influencers, participants have a unique opportunity to promote compassion and tolerance among their followers, highlighting the enduring relevance of Holocaust remembrance in today’s discourse,” Allen said.
‘The most significant Yom HaShoah in 76 years’
Boston’s Jewish community is not alone in calling this year’s commemoration “the most significant Yom Hashoah in 76 years,” in light of the Hamas massacres and ongoing war. Other programs, including “Six Million Steps,” are ramping up efforts amid the surge of antisemitism.
On May 6, the 36th annual March of the Living will see 55 Holocaust survivors participate in the intergenerational gathering at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. According to organizers, seven survivors who plan to participate were affected by the Hamas massacres in Israel.
“The link between the Holocaust, experienced by Jews 80 years ago, and the horrors of the onslaught of October 7 underscores our collective obligation as a nation and society to remain resilient, to defend ourselves and to continue shaping the remarkable narrative of our people,” said Haim Taib, president of the Menomadin Foundation and leader of Israel’s October 7 delegation to the March of the Living.
“I take pride in marching alongside the courageous individuals of the October 7 delegation. Together, we will rise from the ashes of this horrific attack and foster prosperity and abundance in the years ahead,” Taib said.
