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Unto Every Person There is a Name |
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Unto
Every Person There is a Name Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day begins this year on Wednesday evening May 4, 2005 and continues Thursday May 5, 2005. The
world-wide Holocaust memorial project, "Unto Every Person There
Is A Name", now in its eleventh consecutive year, is a unique
project designed to perpetuate the memory of the Jewish victims of
the Shoah as individuals, by the public recitation of their names on
Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. By
personalizing the individual tragedy of its victims and survivors,
this project seeks to defy dangerous trends of indifference and
ignorance of World War II and the Holocaust and to strengthen the
conviction of the truth. Six million Jews, of whom one and a half
million were children, perished in the Shoah, while the world
remained silent. Today, while antisemitism has virtually been
eliminated as a policy of the State, anti-Jewish attitudes and
antisemitic manifestations , as well as efforts in trivialization of
the Holocaust, still persist while the ranks of neo-Nazi
organizations swell. The project serves as an effective tool to
counter the efforts of Holocaust deniers who seek to convince the
world that the Holocaust never occurred. An
alarming rise in the membership and activities of extreme-right
racist groups both in Eastern and Western Europe, culminating with
the inclusion of the extreme-right Freedom Party in the new
coalition government in Austria , has lit a warning light throughout
the free world. The party, which has traditionally been a haven for
those harboring Nazi sentiments, and its xenophobic populist leader,
Joerg Haider, who in the past spoke in admiration of Hitler, won 27%
of the seats of parliament. Thus it has become a political force to
be taken seriously in Austrian politics. Austria
has not seriously confronted the dark chapters of its past as a
willing accomplice to Nazi Germany and still maintains that it was
the victim of the German Anschluss. In particular, Austria has yet
to take elementary steps to document the fate of Austrian Jews who
perished in the Holocaust. Certain
Russian parliamentarians have accused the Jews in Russia of
responsibility for the economic recession in the country and there
has been an alarming increase in violent antisemitic incidents
against Jewish leaders and communal property. In an upsurge of
violent anti-Jewish hate crimes and actions in the United States,
Jewish school children and neighborhood synagogues have been shot at
and fire-bombed by unrepentant racists. At
the same time, there are hopeful signs, such as the recent
International Conference on Holocaust Education convened in
Stockholm in January 2000 by the Prime Minister of Sweden, PM Goran
Persson. Heads of state from 17 countries signed the declaration of
commitment to enhancing Holocaust education and remembrance in their
school systems. Persson himself publicly recited names of Jews who
perished in the Shoah. Thus the concept of name recitation advocated
by Unto Every Person There Is A Name, has been adopted by many as a
meaningful and impressive educational tool to teach the lessons of
the Holocaust. Personalizing
the Holocaust Ceremonies
in which names of Holocaust victims are recited together with such
information as age, place of birth and place of death, personalize
the tragedy of the Holocaust. Emphasis is thus put on the millions
of men, women and children who were lost to the Jewish people and
not solely on the cold, intangibility embodied in the term "The
Six Million". The
International Committee therefore wishes to make a special appeal
that Pages of Testimony be distributed, completed and sent to the
Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, where names of hitherto unknown victims
will be added to the lists still being compiled. These pages serve
as symbolic grave stones for those who died anonymously and did not
receive an honorable burial. A
World-Wide Effort Recitation
ceremony planning recommendations The
committee recommends that participation in recitation ceremonies
should not be restricted to the Jewish community alone but should be
a venue for pluralistic cooperation with non-Jewish groups and
leaders in your larger community. We
strongly advise you to encourage young members of your community to
search for names of relatives and friends who were victims of the
Holocaust, to compile your own personal and local lists of names and
stories of the families, for commemoration, and to fill out Pages of
Testimony and mail them to Yad Vashem. (See Appendix I). Local
and national media, especially TV, should be encouraged to cover the
ceremonies. Video footage, which we will receive from your
communities, will serve the International Committee in producing a
professional film on the name recitation ceremonies that will take
place this year. A copy of such material, along with name, telephone
number and address for future contact, should be sent to Yad Vashem. *
a table or podium covered in black For further information and computerized lists of names, as well as blank Pages of Testimony in the various languages, it is imperative that you send your requests as soon as possible to the appropriate organization or directly to the Hall of Names. Members
of "Unto Every Person There Is A Name" International
Committee, Israel are: APPENDIX
I Referants: For
Yad Vashem For
North America For
East Europe For
West Europe, Latin America, Australia For
former Soviet Union For
the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
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| Copyright ©2004 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority |
