Holocaust victims remembered at solemn St. John's ceremony

Members of the Jewish community in St. John's gathered on Sunday to share prayers and reflections of the Holocaust, and the Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1945.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is held around the world to mark the Jewish genocide in Europe at the hands of the Nazis.

"While it's hard to choose a day to begin to commemorate a solemn and horrible event where six million Jews were murdered, that was the day that was chosen and recognized worldwide," said Jonathan Richler, president of the Jewish Community Havura of Newfoundland. 

"So it's important that we participate."

The day also marks the uprising in the Jewish ghetto, which occurred while German troops were deporting as many as 5,000 Jews a day to camps where most perished several months later.

"When there were less than 1,500 Jews left in the ghetto, the last vestiges rose up and resisted against the Nazis," Richler said.

He said the Jewish Community Havura is planning to commemorate next year's service with a Holocaust survivor.