Ask a Jew: What are the different Holocaust remembrance days and their meaning? 

Question: What’s the difference between the Day of Holocaust and Heroism, or Yom HaShoah, International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Tisha B’av? 

By Hyphen Parent | FāVS News Columnist

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. 

Yom Hashoah V’HaGevurah, which translates to the Day of the Holocaust and Heroism (more commonly referred to as Yom Hashoah) is generally considered the day to commemorate the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is generally seen as a day for the world to commemorate all victims of the Nazis. Tisha B’av, a Jewish day of mourning, is also often used to commemorate the Holocaust and mourn the death and destruction. 

Yom Hashoah is the older of the two days. It was established in 1951. It falls on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which is typically in April. That date is the Hebrew anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising — the largest uprising by Jews during World War II where Jews fought back against the Nazis for nearly a month. 

The day typically involves ceremonies and speeches from Jewish schools, groups, Holocaust survivors and their families, Holocaust museums and memorials. In Israel, one striking commemoration is a siren that sounds for a full two minutes where everything comes to a halt. Cars pull over and people often stand outside their vehicle, buses stop, people stop working. Everything stops for two minutes to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. 

In Spokane, Yom Hashoah is marked by the Spokane Community Observance of the Holocaust. The ceremony includes a procession of children carrying candles, speeches, prayers, memorials and commemorative candle lightings. In more recent years, the ceremony has also included displays of art created by local students and chosen as winners in the Jessica Stein Memorial Art Contest, an annual Holocaust memorial art contest. 

International Holocaust Memorial Day (also known as International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust) was designated by the United Nations in 2005 to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust. It falls on January 27 each year. The date was chosen to mark the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. 

The purpose of the day is both to memorialize those killed and to educate future generations. This is the day when government entities are most likely to host Holocaust memorial events. 

Tisha B’av (or the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av) is the saddest day in the Jewish year and is also used to memorialize victims of the Holocaust. This year, it falls from sunset July 22 through the night of July 23.  

Tisha B’av is a day of fasting and mourning used to mark major Jewish disasters. It commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in addition to many other horrors all throughout history. Because the tragedy of the Holocaust affected all Jews, some believe the already established Tisha B’av is the best day to use as a memorial day. 

International Holocaust Memorial Day is a day for the world to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust, to combat Holocaust denial and revisionism and to educate. Yom Hashoah is a day specifically for the Jewish community to commemorate and memorialize Jewish victims. Tisha B’av is a well-established day of mourning that many Jews find already fits the need for a day dedicated to remembering national Jewish tragedies. All three days commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, but for different audiences and often with different focuses and observances.

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