Israel commemorates the Jews murdered in the Holocaust

Created: 04/28/2022, 10:19 am

Israeli soldiers in the Yad Vashem Museum.

Israel commemorated the Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

© Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Cars stop in the street, people stop, sirens wail: Israel commemorates the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Tel Aviv - Israel commemorated the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Sirens wailed nationwide for two minutes in the morning.

Cars stopped in the streets, people stood still and commemorated the dead.

A commemoration event then began at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, which was also attended by the President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas.

The politician laid a wreath on behalf of the Bundestag.

She is currently on a three-day visit to Israel.

Bundestag President Bas takes part

Bas had previously lit a candle in the Knesset in memory of the Jewess Irma Nathan, who was deported from her hometown of Duisburg 80 years ago.

She was murdered by the Nazis in 1942.

Her husband and two children were also killed by the Nazis.

The German National Socialists and their accomplices murdered a total of six million Jews during World War II.

At the official opening ceremony at Yad Vashem on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett emphasized the uniqueness of the Holocaust.

"Even the worst wars today are not the Holocaust and are not comparable to the Holocaust," he said in a statement.

"The Nazis sought to hunt down all Jews and exterminate every single one of them."

161,400 Holocaust survivors left in Israel

According to official figures, 161,400 Holocaust survivors are still living in Israel.

The average age is 85.5 years, it said.

More than 1000 affected are even older than 100 years.

According to the Jewish Claims Conference, around 100 Holocaust survivors have immigrated to Israel from Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

In addition, around 70 people affected were brought to Germany from Ukraine with the help of the organization.

The Claims Conference, with its headquarters in New York, is committed to material compensation for those affected.

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According to Israeli data, there were 15.2 million Jews living worldwide at the end of 2020, most of them - 6.9 million - in Israel.

The second largest Jewish community with 6 million was in the USA.

At that time, 118,000 Jews lived in Germany.

According to the information, there are still fewer Jews worldwide than before World War II.

At that time it was 16.6 million, it said.

dpa