Czech Towns and Cities Mark Holocaust Remembrance Day

A number of Czech towns and cities mark today the Holocaust Remembrance Day with traditional outdoor ceremonies at which the names of Holocaust victims are read out by politicians, church dignitaries and leading cultural figures.

Between 1940 and 1945, 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, most of them Jewish. The prisoners at Auschwitz included 50 000 citizens of Czechoslovakia, about 6 000 of whom survived.

The Nazis murdered six million people of Jewish origin during the Second World War. The interwar Jewish community of Czechoslovakia was 350 000 strong, 250 000 of whom died during the war.

It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah. When the actual date of Yom Hashoah falls on a Friday, the state of Israel observes Yom Hashoah on the preceding Thursday. When it falls on a Sunday, Yom Hashoah is observed on the following Monday.

The event is organized by the Terezín Initiative Institute.

Author: red