Israel's Holocaust survivors' community is 189,500 strong, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday, ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, showed.
Israel will mark the annual memorial day with a series of ceremonies starting on Monday evening. This year, however, many ceremonies have been canceled over coronavirus-related public health directives.
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All major state ceremonies will be held as planned but will be devoid of an audience over coronavirus restrictions.
This includes the torch-lighting ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, which was pre-recorded and will air on all major TV channels on Monday evening.
On 10 a.m. on Tuesday, a two-minute siren will wail nationwide, honoring the victims. It will be followed by the wreath-laying ceremony in Jerusalem, at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument, which will also be held sans an audience.
While official in-person ceremonies have been barred, the Jewish Agency will host two special virtual memorial day events seeking to bring Jews around the world together to hear from Holocaust survivor Leah Hason.
Her heartbreaking story will be presented on the organization's Facebook page and will be broadcast in eight languages as part of the Jewish Agency's annual "Zikaron BaSalon" ("Memories in the Living Room") project.
At the end of the program, Jewish Agency emissaries will hold virtual discussions with their respective communities to discuss the emotional story they just heard.
Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog noted that considering today's climate of isolation - especially among the elderly - hearing testimonies from Holocaust survivors is more important than ever.
"With physical face-to-face encounters put on hold for now, on this Holocaust Remembrance Day it is even more important to listen to Holocaust survivors sitting alone in their homes and leverage every means of technology at our disposal to make sure their voices and memories are heard.
As we lose more and more Holocaust survivors each year, it is our responsibility to convey the memory of the Holocaust and continue to tell their story from generation to generation."
Herzog will also share his own personal connection to the Holocaust, discussing how his father, the late President Chaim Herzog, was a combat officer in the British Army during WWII.
As a young man, the elder Herzog was one of the first soldiers to set foot in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and liberate those imprisoned there.
"My father often repeated his experience and how he came face to face with survivors in the camp," Herzog said. "To this day, I still remember his words vividly and when I meet Holocaust survivors, many of whom are now living their last days alone in nursing homes, I recall his harrowing experience in Bergen-Belsen."
"Zikaron BaSalon" is a social initiative that allows Holocaust survivors to share their stories with subsequent generations from the comfort of a living room.
