On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah the world comes together to commemorate and share vital stories of hope and courage, faith and triumph in the darkest of days.
The Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day was created by Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset to pay tribute to the more than 6 million Jews and other people who perished in the Holocaust from 1933 – 1945. Since it is hard to know exactly when many family and friends perished, the Knesset chose to the 27th day of the month of Nisan, since it marked the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 when Jewish resistance fighters fought for freedom against their Nazi oppressors despite hopeless odds.
In Israel Yom HaShoah is a national memorial day that includes the sounding of a siren followed by two minutes of silence. On this solemn day all places of entertainment including restaurants, bars, and movie theaters are closed. Around the world many communities have commemorative events, listening to a speaker who survived the Holocaust, lighting candles to remember those who lost their lives, and some organize marches.
Holocaust Remembrance Day will be observed this year on May 4, 2016. You can encourage patrons to remember this day by celebrating voices from the past with some of today’s most powerful literature, by making these titles available for young listeners in your library.
Holocaust Remembrance collection
More from Listening Library’s Holocaust Remembrance collection:
By Irene Gut Opdyke and Jennifer Armstrong
Read by Hope Davis
By Ruta Sepetys
Read by Jorjeana Marie, Cassandra Morris, Will Damron and Michael Crouch
Recently a #1 LibraryReads pick.
By Anne Frank
Read by Selma Blair
By Anne Frank
Read by Kathe Mazur
By John Boyne
Read by Michael Maloney
By Markus Zusak
Read by Allan Corduner
By Lois Lowry
Read by Blair Brown
