Official VE Day Ceremony at Yad Vashem

08 May 2016

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Minister Zeev Elkin, Yad Vashem Archives Director Dr. Haim Gertner and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Tali Ploskov were among the honored speakers

Minister of Immigrant and Absorption and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Zeev Elkin MK recalled the heroic deeds of the Jewish fighters during WWII

Representatives of the Allied forces took part in the ceremony

Jewish veterans of WWII who fought with the Allies, partisans and in the underground participated in the event

Wreaths were laid by Jewish veterans as well as representatives of the Allied forces at Yad Vashem's Monument to the Jewish Soldiers and Partisans

On 8 May, Yad Vashem held the Official State Ceremony Marking the Allied Victory over Nazi Germany at the Monument to the Jewish Soldiers and Partisans. Participating in the ceremony were: Minister of Immigrant and Absorption and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Zeev Elkin MK; Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Tali Ploskov MK; Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat; Director of the Yad Vashem Arcnives Dr. Haim Gertner; Chairman of the Organization of Partisans, Underground Fighters and Ghetto Rebels in Israel Baruch Shub; and President of the Organization of Soldiers and Partisans - Disabled Veterans of the Nazi War Ephraim Paperno.

Hundreds of Jewish WWII veterans of the Allied armies, the majority from the Former Soviet Union attended and lay wreaths, along with Jewish partisans, wounded soldiers from the war against the Nazis, underground fighters, volunteers from the Yishuv who fought in the British forces, veterans of the Jewish Brigade, and diplomatic representatives from the Allied countries.

Recalling his two grandparents who fought with the Allies during WWII, Minister Elkin connected the days marking the Holocaust, the victory over Nazi Germany and Israel's independence that follow each other over a space of just one week in the calendar. "Those million-and-a-half Jewish fighters in the Allied armies, in the partisan units and in the underground and the ghettos prove that among the Allied forces was, in fact, one other country - albeit one that was declared a few years later - the State of Israel, the State of the Jewish people, that must be counted among the victorious nations, through merit and not charity. The representatives of this people fought shoulder to shoulder with those of many other countries to bring about the victory: We must always remember that we owe these fighters an enormous debt of gratitude."

Representing Yad Vashem, Director of the Yad Vashem Archives Dr. Haim Gertner read out moving wartime testimonies of soldiers in the Red Army and the Jewish Brigade. "The State of Israel based itself and was strengthened through the bravery of those fighters," he proclaimed. "Your spirit of combat and heroism continues to accompany us to this day."