Israel falls silent to honour victims of the Holocaust

ON ISRAEL’S annual Holocaust memorial day yesterday, a 78-year-old concentration camp survivor slowly read the names of dozens of relatives murdered in the Nazi death camps, pausing to choke back tears.

The country’s main Holocaust memorial is racing to document victims’ memories and Michal Beer — survivor of the Terezin concentration camp — is one of many crucial to that effort.

“Soon, I will no longer be around. We really are the last ones,” she said.

Israel marked the day with silence to honour the six million murdered in the Holocaust.

A two-minute siren at 10am brought life across the nation to a standstill.

Schools held memorial services, places of entertainment were shut down and the

Israeli flag was at half staff.

At Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, the nation’s leaders joined survivors for wreath-laying at Warsaw Ghetto Square.

Other ceremonies and performances took place throughout the country.