Elon students, faculty and staff will share quotes and stories in an online ceremony of remembrance on Tuesday, April 21.
This year, the Elon community will virtually mark Yom HaShoah or “Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism,” which falls on Tuesday, April 21.
Every year, we gather as a community to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust through the Reading of the Names and for a Ceremony of Remembrance, to remind us all of the terrible deeds that can be carried out when bigotry, hatred, and indifference are regarded as normal.
However, this year is different. This year, there will be no public reading of names, no March of the Living, and no major ceremonies.
Instead, we invite you to join us virtually, on the Elon Hillel Facebook page at 10 am on April 21, as we connect and share reflections as a community.
Elon students, faculty and staff will share quotes and stories to remember the lives of those who died as a result of the racial purity measures in German-controlled Europe during World War II, to honor those who survived, and remind of their experiences during this dark time.
We read names, and share stories of the victims, to help ensure that their memories are never forgotten. Although we cannot read the names on the steps of Moseley, or gather in the Sacred Space, as is our annual tradition, our virtual ceremony will emphasize the depth of loss during the Holocaust.
The Reading of the Names is an important way to memorialize the victims of the Shoah, and occurs throughout the world on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The name of the ceremony derives from the poem, “Unto Every Person There is a Name, Bestowed on him by his Father and Mother,” written by Zelda (1914 – 1984), and linked here.
Yom HaShoah or “Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism,” falls on April 21, 2020. The date was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as a day for the citizens of Israel to remember those murdered during the Holocaust, but it has become a day commemorated by Jewish communities and individuals worldwide.
We invite you and your students to join us online to mark this solemn day.
For more information, please contact:
Hillary Zaken, Assistant Director of Jewish Life for Development & Strategic Communications
Andrea Sinn, O’Briant Developing Professor and Assistant Professor of History, Director of Jewish Studies
Boaz Avraham-Katz, Hebrew Instructor, Consulting Jewish Educator at Hillel
Other online resources include:
- Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2020, Broadcast of Ceremony from Israel, 4/20 at 1 p.m.: https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2020/broadcast.asp
- 2020 Days of Remembrance Commemoration from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Broadcast of Ceremony 4/21 at 11 am: https://www.ushmm.org/online-calendar/event/VENADORCEREM0420
- List of names of victims of the Holocaust from Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Yad Vashem invites the public to participate in an international campaign to recite the names of Holocaust victims, record the name reading and share the video on social media using the hashtags #RememberingFromHome and #ShoahNames.: https://www.yadvashem.org/downloads/name-reading-ceremonies.html
- Survivor Testimonies from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-reflections-testimonies