The Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, honours the Jewish people who died in the Second World War (1939–1945). Rather than use the term ‘the Holocaust’ to refer to the persecution of the Jews in the Second World War, Jewish people use the Hebrew word Shoah, which means a wind of great devastation. The 27th day of the month of Nisan was chosen for Yom HaShoa, a time to remember the victims of the Shoah, because it is the anniversary of the day in 1943 that the last of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rebelled against the forces of Nazi Germany.
On Yom HaShoah, commemorations and special services are held and special prayers are said in synagogues or at Shoah memorials, during which poems of remembrance are read in honour of the Jewish people murdered in the War. The victims of the Nazis are also remembered by lighting candles in their honour.
The rest of the world traditionally remembers the victims of the Second World War on 27th January. On that day in 1945 the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest of the death camps of the Shoah. A separate day of remembrance is also observed for the eight Jewish people who were handed over by Finland to Nazi Germany on 6 November 1942.
