2024 Yom HaShoah commemoration at the National Holocaust Monument
On Monday, May 6, Ottawa’s Jewish community, leaders from other faith communities, and elected officials came together in person at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa for a community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration to remember the victims of the Holocaust, honour the Survivors, and reaffirm the commitment to preserve the memories and lessons of the Shoah (Hebrew for Holocaust and used colloquially by Jews globally).
This year’s Yom HaShoah ceremony paid tribute to the 80th anniversary of the deportation of 440,000 Jews from Hungary from May 15 to July 9, 1944. Most were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were killed, the majority in gas chambers. By the end of July 1944, the only Jewish community left in Hungary was that of Budapest, the capital.
This official commemoration invited not only the Jewish community but all Canadians to take a moment to reflect on the past. In particular, a special focus was on teaching youth from the National Capital Region to attend and learn about how the lessons past can help them to stand up to hate today. More than 100 students joined the more than 300 attendees, including Holocaust Survivors, Jewish community members, elected officials, and diplomatic representatives.
The event was hosted by CIJA, the National Holocaust Monument Committee (NHMC) and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, in close partnership with the Israeli embassy.
This event was also livestreamed on Facebook.
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