The U.S. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. Each year across the United States, state and local government organizations, workplaces, schools, and religious and community centers host remembrance activities to reaffirm our nation’s commitment to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive. The Days of Remembrance run from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day (also known as Yom HaShoah) through the following Sunday.
The U.S. Department of State annually hosts a Yom HaShoah event, often in partnership with the international diplomatic corps in Washington, DC, to honor the lives and memory of the six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution. Yom HaShoah also honors the survivors of history’s darkest hour and those heroes who found the courage to resist Nazi oppression.
This year, in light of the social distancing required by the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of State supported the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Virtual National Commemoration on April 21.