(Washington, D.C., April 28, 2022)–B’nai B’rith International marked Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, with virtual and in-person programs across the U.S. and globally.

B’nai B’rith held its annual observance of “Unto Every Person There Is A Name,” a program to honor Holocaust victims by reading their names and where and when they were born and died. This year’s program, hosted by B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, was held virtually over Zoom.

B’nai B’rith and community leaders who joined the program to read names included:

• Seth Riklin, B’nai B’rith International President
• Brad Adolph, B’nai B’rith International Vice Chair
• Sheila Mostyn, Chair of the B’nai B’rith Center for Jewish Identity
• Josh Sushan, Chair of Connect, B’nai B’rith’s Young Leadership program
• Rob Derdiger, CEO of the AEPi Fraternity

Mariaschin opened the ceremony and introduced the central theme of this year’s Unto observance, “Transports to Extinction (The Deportation of the Jews during the Holocaust).”

Before the names reading, Riklin read a letter from Israeli President Isaac Herzog emphasizing the importance of remembrance and the duty to carry on the memory of those who died in the Holocaust.

“The generation of survivors is dwindling. We are the bearers of their legacy and must do all we can to remember the victims of the Holocaust,” Mariaschin said in his closing remarks. “By reading their names, age and place of death we keep their memory alive, reminding the world of what the Jewish people have lost.”

B’nai B’rith Connect held a unique Unto event, sending volunteers a list of 20 names to be read at any time, any place on April 27 and April 28. Participants were instructed to “read them over a candle, before bed, with your loved ones or whenever you can spare a few minutes.” All names read were of those who perished at Babyn Yar in Ukraine.

“For Yom HaShoah, I am reading the names of Jews who were brutally murdered at Babyn Yar in Ukraine—the country of our family ancestry—during the Holocaust with my daughter Simona,” said Ari Ackerman, a Connect leader and volunteer reader. “As Jews around the world face rampant anti-Semitism—including Holocaust denial—it is more important than ever that we ensure the next generation continues the vital legacy to never forget!”

In Israel the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) held a joint ceremony to honor Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust, the only Yom HaShoah event dedicated annually to commemorating the heroism of Jewish rescuers.

The ceremony was held at B’nai B’rith Martyr’s Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza and was streamed in Hebrew on the World Center Facebook page and in English on the B’nai B’rith International Facebook page. The “Jewish Rescuers Citation”—a joint program of the B’nai B’rith World Center and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust (JRJ)—was conferred on 13 rescuers who operated in France, Holland, Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania, Czechia and Denmark.

Speakers at the ceremony included: Sar-Shalom Jerbi, director, Education and Community Division, KKL-JNF; Alan Schneider, director, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem; Brig. Gen. Kobi Karni, commander, Border Guard Combat Training Center; Ambassador Hans Docter, ambassador of the Netherlands to Israel.

Docter said in his remarks, “Here, at the forest of the Martyrs, 6 million trees were planted in memory of the innocent Jewish lives that were cut short. It is our responsibility to keep these 6 million memories alive and to say today, and every day, Never Again.”

In addition to B’nai B’rith’s commemoration events, Mariaschin spoke at an event on April 27 in Nicosia, Cyprus, where he acknowledged and thanked the local citizens who assisted Jewish detainees at a British detention camp, which held survivors who had been turned away from entering pre-state Israel after World War II. The visit to this camp was part of a bi-annual leadership mission to Israel, Cyprus and Greece, held together with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and two Hellenic-American organizations: the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association and the American Hellenic Institute. The commemoration event was hosted by the government of Cyprus.

On April 29, the B’nai B’rith Achim/Gate City Lodge in Atlanta will hold a hybrid Unto program, both over Zoom and in-person, at the Georgia State Capitol Building, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m ET.

Since 1989, B’nai B’rith has served as the North American sponsor of this program on behalf of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

As Mariaschin read from the introduction to the 2022 “Unto Every Person There Is A Name” materials—written by Dani Dayan, chair of Yad Vashem—“The annual recitation of names of victims on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day is one way of posthumously restoring the victims’ names, of commemorating them as individuals. We seek in this manner to honor the memory of the victims, to grapple with the enormity of the murder and to combat Holocaust denial and distortion.”

B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit bnaibrith.org.