The Knesset held its annual Every Person Has a Name ceremony to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday, with the participation of President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Supreme Court Chief Justice Isaac Amit, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Other dignitaries joined the ceremony, which included ministers and members of Knesset, who read the names of family members lost in the Holocaust. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and chairman of Yad Vashem Dani Dayan participated as well.
While the annual ceremony would typically have been streamed live in the Knesset, it was pre-recorded this year due to the security situation amid tensions with Iran.
Netanyahu spoke about his father-in-law, Shmuel Ben-Artzi, who was the sole survivor of the Holocaust in his family and then came to Israel. Netanyahu said that he was a Bible scholar, educator, and writer, and a recipient of the Ka-Tzetnik Fund Award for Holocaust Literature.
Ben-Artzi had written numerous poems after the Holocaust, which reflected his emotions of being alone after the loss of his entire family. Netanyahu read a poem that he wrote, titled Dream, and then read the names of the family members Ben-Artzi had lost.
Herzog also read the names of those from his family who were murdered in the Holocaust.
In Ohana’s remarks, he said that though the Every Person Has a Name ceremony is a tradition at the Knesset, in truth, the names of many victims of the Holocaust remain unknown.
“Four million and eight hundred thousand names have been collected by Yad Vashem for the Book of Names project, yet at least another million names are still missing,” the Knesset speaker said.
“Entire families, and sometimes entire communities, were wiped off the face of the earth, leaving not even a trace, not even a single survivor to testify that they ever existed,” he added.
Ohana also spoke about a recent visit to Yad Vashem, during which he paused upon seeing only the last name of a baby. The newborn had still not been named before she was taken from her mother, Irene, about half an hour after her birth, and then murdered.
“May the memory of all Holocaust victims, including those who remain without a name, be blessed forever. May their blood be avenged,” Ohana said.
Other ministers and MKs read the names of their family members who were lost in the Holocaust, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, National Missions Minister Orit Strock, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, MK Gilad Kariv (The Democrats), and MK Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beytenu).
Holocaust survivors recount their stories
During the ceremony, the stories of six Holocaust survivors were presented to represent the memory of six million victims. A torch in the Knesset was lit after each story was told.
Holocaust survivor Miriam Greiber recounted how her father was taken to Auschwitz, while she, her mother, and her sister were placed in the Budapest ghetto under harsh conditions of hunger, overcrowding, and constant fear.
At a critical moment, when her mother was sent to a transport, Greiber’s mother hid her daughters in a pile of garbage to save them, later escaping and returning to them.
Jona Laks spoke on how she survived the Holocaust after being deported from the Lodz Ghetto to Auschwitz with her sisters, after their parents were murdered.
Upon arrival, she underwent selection by Dr. Josef Mengele, known for conducting gruesome human experiments at the concentration camp. He had determined that Laks should be sent immediately to her death. However, at the last moment, her sister pleaded for her life, noting they were twins, leading Mengele to return her for cruel medical experiments that she survived.
Survivor Eva Erben was born in Czechoslovakia and was among the hundred children who lived through the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp out of 50,000 people.
She also survived a death march, during which she lost her mother. Erben immigrated to Israel in 1948 and has 16 great-grandchildren. She then authored a book about her experience in the Holocaust, which has been translated into 16 languages.
As part of the ceremony, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber recited psalms, and Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yosef recited Kaddish.
IDF Chief Cantor Shai Abramson said the Jewish memorial prayer for the souls of the departed, titled “El Maleh Rachamim” (God filled with mercy).
Ohana began the day by lighting a memorial candle at the entrance to the Knesset building in memory of Eli Ben Yitzhak, who was born in Morocco. His wife, Cecile, and their son, Henri, were all deported to Auschwitz and murdered there in 1944.
At the Knesset entrance also stood a table holding numerous memorial candles labeled with the names of those who were murdered during the Holocaust.
The Knesset Speaker invited visitors who arrived at the parliament to light memorial candles and reflect on the memory of the Holocaust victims throughout the day.