The institutional ceremony for commemorating International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust takes place on Thursday, 28 January.
The traditional Commemoration Ceremony is being held this year at the Saló del Tinell (Plaça del Rei), starting at 6 pm. It will be attended, as in previous occasions, by representatives of Jewish, Roman and homosexual communities as well as family members of murdered or deported individuals, and presided over by the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau and the Catalan Minister of Justice, Ester Capella.
“Arvoles yoran por luvyas”, a song sung in Nazi extermination camps by Sephardic inmates, descendants of Jews expelled from Spain, will open the event before the lighting of the 7 commemorative candles.
Each of the candles pays tribute to the various groups of victims. The first, to the six million Jewish people killed by the Nazis. The second, in memory of the Jewish resistance, and the third for the one and a half million children who fell victim to Nazi barbarism. Three more candles will be lit in memory of the Roma victims, the Spanish republicans who had been deported to the Nazi camps and all the other groups that suffered persecution. The seventh and last candle will commemorate the Righteous among the Nations, the men and women who risked their lives to save persecuted Jews. A performance of “El Malei Rachamim”, a Jewish prayer for the dead, will be given during the candle-lighting ceremony.
The lighting of the candles will be followed by a minute’s silence for the victims of the Holocaust, text readings and a performance of the Roma anthem “Gelem Gelem” and “El cant dels ocells”.