Live streamed Yom HaShoah ceremony marks 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

The annual Jewish remembrance day for victims of the Holocaust, which this year marked the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, was live streamed from Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors Centre on Monday evening.

Addressing the 150 guests who assembled in person, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis hailed the heroes of the ghetto uprising who resisted the Nazis for four weeks in April and May 1943, saying: “We recall the extraordinary heroism of so many men, women and children, who at a time of hell on earth, were determined to do what they could with incredible bravery”.

Those present included Janine Webber, a survivor of the Lwów Ghetto in Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine); Auschwitz survivor Ivor Perl and Henny (Henriette) Franks, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport and celebrates her 100th birthday in June.

Candles were lit during the ceremony, mirroring those being lit around the country, in Israel and at the ‘March of the Living’ remembrance in Poland. Thirty-five thousand commemorative Yellow Candles were bought and Yom HaShoah UK organisers hope to have reached more than the 20,000 online viewers in 2022.

Survivors were joined by school children, youth group movement representatives and Jewish community leaders including President of the Board of Deputies Marie van der Zyl, Life President of Jewish Care Lord Levy, Jewish Leadership Council chair Keith Black together with Israel’s ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Marie van der Zyl recited Yad Vashem Law ‘We Commune’ and Lord Levy recited the Mourner’s Kaddish.

Henry Grunwald KC co-hosted the ceremony with Game of Thrones German Jewish actress Laura Pradelska who recited ‘Mirele’s Letter‘, a fictional letter from a mother about to say goodbye to her two-year-old daughter during the Holocaust.

Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely spoke of the importance of the legacy of the Yom HaShoah Holocaust educational initiative, where over 200 legacy boards have been placed around the UK.

Sadiq Khan, mayor of London introduced the Children’s Choir, made up of young people from Jewish primary schools including Etz Chaim in Mill Hill and Clore Tikva in Ilford, Essex singing ‘Never Again’, conducted by Stephen Melzack.

Haunting pre-war music was played and Yiddish songs performed by a Klezmer band in the courtyard of the centre.

Neil Martin, chair of Yom Hashoah UK said: “it was an incredibly moving ceremony that was watched by thousands online and in the presence of our survivors and refugees, who are so central to our commemoration. Yom HaShoah is a true collaborative event that brings our whole community together, from old to young, from generation to generation.”

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The Holocaust was one of the most devastating chapters of human history, and as the years pass it is more important than ever for us to learn the victims’ and survivors’ stories, keep them alive for future generations, and ensure the horrors of the Holocaust are never repeated. This year’s theme ‘Never Again’ reinforces our resolve to tackle apathy in the face of growing divisions in our society and encourages us to reflect on the fact that we all have a responsibility to call out hatred, wherever and whenever it arises.”

If you missed this event you can watch online at www.yomhashoah.org.uk.