Yom Hashoah, remembrance day for the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, is commemorated rather than celebrated. In Israel, it begins at sundown with a ceremony
…held at the Warsaw Ghetto Plaza. The Israeli flag is lowered to half-mast and speeches are given by the Israeli Prime Minister and President. Six torches - one for each million Jews killed - are lit and praters are said by the nation's chief rabbis. At 10am the following morning, sirens sound for two minutes during which people stop whatever they are doing and remember the dead. It's a very sad and moving day, devoted to prayer and remembering the horrors of the Holocaust. In the Diaspora - nations other than Israel that are home to Jewish people - remembrance takes place in synagogues and in those areas with a large Jewish population in other places too. It is common in many countries, such as the USA, UK and throughout Europe - for large numbers of non-Jews to join in with communal events. For a two-week period ending on Yom hashoah in Europe, an event called the March of the Living - in remembrance of the death marches when Jews were forced to march many miles at gunpoint, causing many to die in addition to those murdered when they fell to the ground or could go on no longer - takes place during which huge numbers of people, mostly students and from all different religious backgrounds march from Auschwitz to Birkenau. (MORE) 
