Community Commemoration of the Holocaust

(No local commemoration of Yom Hashoah is planned for 2024)

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What Is Yom HaShoah?

  Yom HaShoah is a day set aside to remember the Holocaust. The name comes from the Hebrew word “shoah”, which means “whirlwind”.
  Six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Other holocaust victims included Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people, anyone of African descent, Christian pastors and Catholic priests, Jehovah's Witnesses, Russian prisoners of war, trade unionists and other individuals who, for whatever reason, were considered racially inferior or "degenerates."
  It is believed that a total of 15 million people died. Up to 1.5 million children were among the victims, the vast majority of them Jewish. Disabled children and the children of Roma Gypsies were also murdered by the Nazi regime.

  Yom HaShoah was established in Israel in 1959 by law. It falls on the 27th of the Jewish month of Nissan, a date chosen because it is the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
  Yom HaShoah ceremonies include lighting candles for Holocaust victims and listening to the stories of survivors. Religious ceremonies include prayers such as Kaddish for the dead and the El Maleh Rahamim, a memorial prayer.

  In Israel Yom HaShoah is one of the most solemn days of the year. It begins at sunset on 26th Nissan and ends the following evening. During Yom HaShoah memorial events are held throughout the country, with national ceremonies being held at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. (Yad Vashem is the Jewish people’s memorial to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.)
  On the morning of Yom HaShoah a siren is sounded for two minutes throughout Israel and all work and other activity stops while people remember those killed in the Holocaust.

  In the United States, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum establishes a theme and coordinates planning each year for the annual “Day of Remembrance” which coincides with Yom HaShoah.
(Courtesy of BBC)
 

El Malah Rahamim (Prayer of Remembrance)

Merciful God, who dwells above, provide a sure rest upon the Divine Presence's wings, amongst of the holy and the pure, whose shining resembles the sky's, all the souls of the six million Jews, victims of the European Holocaust, who were murdered, slaughtered, burnt and exterminated for the Sanctification of the Name, by the German Nazi assassins and their helpers from the rest of the peoples. Therefore, the Master of Mercy will protect them forever, from behind the hiding of his wings, and will tie their souls with the rope of life. The Everlasting is their heritage, the Garden of Eden shall be their resting room, and they shall rest peacefully upon their lying place, they will stand for their fate at the end of days, and let us say: Amen

Martin Niemoeller's "Never Forget"...

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

-- Written by Martin Niemoeller, a pastor in the German Confessing Church, who spent eight and a half years in a Nazi death camp.

Related Links:

Information About the Holocaust and Stories from Holocaust Survivors

History of the Holocaust
Holocaust Encyclopedia/U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Survivors' Stories
More Survivors' Stories
Children of the Holocaust
Holocaust Pictures
Kaddish Prayer
Kaddish Video
Bill Moyer's Interview with Elie Wiesel

Information About Jewish-Catholic Relations

Official Statements
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #597, 839
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions [Nostra Aetate] (Second Vatican Council,
    1965)
Sources Behind "The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable" (Research Gate 2017)
The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable—A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic-
   Jewish Relations (Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews, 2015)
We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah (Commission for Religious  Relations with the Jews, 1998)
The Jewish People and Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible (Pontifical Biblical Commission, 2002)
Catholic Teaching on the Shoah (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2001)
God's Mercy Endures Forever--Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and
    Judaism in Catholic Preaching (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1988)
Pope Francis Letter to Jewish Brothers and Sisters 2024
Pope Francis' Address at the Rome Synagogue 2016
Pope Francis' Address to the American Jewish Institute 2014
Pope Francis' Address to a Jewish Delegation from Rome 2013
Joint Statement of the Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee 2013
Statement of the International Catholic-Jewish Committee, 2011
Pope Benedict's New Year Message to Rome's Jewish Community, 2010
Statement of the Bilateral Catholic-Jewish Commission, 2010
Pope Benedict's Address at the Synagogue in Rome, 2010
Pope Benedict's Address to Representatives of the Conference of
  Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, 2009
Pope Benedict's Statement to the Jewish Community in Washington, 2008
Pope Benedict's Statement at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 2006.
Pope John Paul II's statement on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. 2005.
Pope John Paul II's Statement at Yad Veshem Museum, Jerusalem, 2000.
Pope John Paul II's homily at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1979.

Articles (arranged chronologically)
The Right and Wrong Way to Criticize Israel. Karma Ben Johanen (America 01.24)
A Jewish Perspective on the 10th Anniversary of Pope Francis' Papacy. Rabbi Abraham Skorka. (Vatican News
    03.23)
7 Facts About Pope Francis and the Jews. Kimberly Winston (Forward 03.23)
The Passion of Jesus and Anti-Semitism. Raymond Brown (America, 03.18)
Is the Pope Anti-Jewish? Lawrence Cunningham (Commonweal. 05.17)
Pope's Visit Marks Half-Century of Progress. Rabbi David Sandmel. (U.S. Catholic, 06.14)
How John XXIII Changed Catholic-Jewish Relations. Thomas L. McDonald
  (Catholic World Report. 04.14)
Popes John and John Paul--Saints for the Jews. Rabbi Noam Marans. (America 04.14)
Impact of Popes John and John Paul on Catholic-Jewish Relations. Rabbi Jonathan Romain.
   (The Tablet 04.14)
Standing With Jews This Yom Kippur. Thomas Rossica. (Zenit. 09.14)
Why Jews Are Not Our Enemies. John Lamont. (Homiletics & Pastoral Review. 03.14)
Pope Francis Praises Jewish-Catholic Dialogue. Elise Harris (Catholic News Agency. 02.14)
Pope Francis is Breaking New Ground in Jewish-Catholic Relations. Peter Jesserer Smith
   (National Catholic Register. 11.13)
Jewish Council Says Relations Have Never Been So Good. (Zenit. 09.13)
How Vatican II Sparked an Evolution in Jewish-Catholic Relations. Jerome Chanes.
   (Jewish Forward. 06.13)
Catholic-Jewish Relations Under Pope Benedict XVI. (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. 03.13)
How Far We've Come--How Far to Go. Phillip Cunningham (Religion NewsService. 08.11)
The Origin and Challenge of Nostra Aetatae. Isabel Smyth. (Thinking Faith. 10.10)
Current State of Vatican-Israeli Relations. Fr. David Yaeger. (Zenit. 01.10)
Where Dialogue with the Jews is Headed. (Zenit. 03.08)
Jews Continue Dialogue with the Church. (Zenit. 02.08)
Holy See Considers Holocaust an 'Immense Tragedy.' (Zenit. 12.06)
Anti-Semitism--A Wound to Be Healed. Cardinal Walter Kasper (Commission for Religious Relations with
   the Jews, 2001)
Good and Evil After Auschwitz in Papal Teaching. Remi Hoeckman OP. (Sidic #2. 1998)

Video
"The Hand of Peace"--Pope Piux XII and the Jews (Salt & Light Television)

Last Update: 03.10.20