Zachor – Remember – and act

April 15, 2007 - 2:09 PM by Avi

Tonight marks the beginning of Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. Beginning at sunset, the entire country will remember the murder of 6 million Jews and the heroism of those who tried to resist the genocide that took place only a few decades ago in the heart of the civilized world.

Tonight, places of entertainment – movie theaters, restaurants, bars and pubs – will be closed as the entire country comes together to remember the greatest tragedy to befall the Jewish nation. Tomorrow morning, a siren will sound and the entire country will stand silent for a moment of silence.

The national ceremony will take place tonight at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial museum. Attended by the Prime Minister and Acting President, this ceremony has also traditionally been attended by representatives of the entire Israeli diplomatic corps. This year, however, one ambassador will be missing.

Archbishop Antonio Franco, the Vatican’s ambassador to Israel, has announced that he will be boycotting the event in protest of a caption in an exhibit at the new Yad Vashem museum, opened in 2005, that charges Pope Pius XII with failing to save Jews during the Holocaust. Yet, the Vatican refuses to open up their files to researchers to potentially-disprove the statement.

While Franco sits at home, however, the rest of us in Israel will remember.

UPDATE: Whether for political reasons or because he realized it was the right thing to do, the Ambassador will be attending the memorial. It is, however, quite unfortunate that he chose to let certain differences disgrace the memory of the victims and the State of Israel. For more information on Yom HaShoah around the world, this is an article I edited several years ago.

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