Today, Czechs can remember the victims of the Holocaust by reading their names in public

Commercial presentation Update: 05/06/2024 00:20
Issued by: 05/06/2024, 00:20

Prague – In 31 Czech and Moravian cities, the names of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust will be heard this afternoon. The public reading of the names, which will start exactly at 2:00 p.m., is part of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom Hashoah. Since 2006, the event has been organized by the memory institution Institut Terezínské initiative (ITI), interested parties can find information on the initiative’s website.

In Prague, the names of Holocaust victims will be read on Mariánské náměstí, in Brno on Moravské náměstí in front of the Governor’s Palace, and in Olomouc on Horní náměstí. The event also takes place in Ústí nad Labem, Pilsen, Kolín, Liberec, Bechyn, Teplice and other cities.

The main idea of ​​the project is to spread awareness of the Holocaust event as a significant historical experience that affected the development of our society, and at the same time to show the extreme consequences of the manifestations of racism that Nazi policy led to, the organizers say on the website.

Witnesses, survivors of the victims and representatives of Jewish and Roma organizations will take part in the public commemoration. Every year, schoolchildren and adults, who are not indifferent to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, participate in the reading.

The day of commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust and heroism – in Hebrew Yom Hashoah ve HaGvura – falls on the 27th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. It refers to the April Uprising of Warsaw Ghetto prisoners in 1943 and their heroism. It commemorates the six million victims of the Holocaust. In 1951, this day was established by the Israeli Senate (Knesset) as a day of remembrance for the heroes of the uprising and all victims of the Nazi “final solution of the Jewish question”. In the Czech lands, this day was commemorated in Jewish communities after 1989, later also in the Terezín Memorial. Last year, the day fell on April 18, this year on May 6, and next year on April 24.

The partner of this year’s 19th edition is, among others, the Museum of Roma Culture based in Brno and the Sinti and Roma Center in Prague. Last year, the names of people of the Roma ethnicity who became victims of racial persecution during the war were also heard.

The reading of the names takes place under the auspices of the Embassy of the State of Israel in the Czech Republic and with the financial support of the Endowment Fund for Holocaust Victims and the capital city of Prague.

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