‘Never Again,’ Echoes Worldwide Nations Join Israel In Mourning Victims Of The Holocaust

Israeli flags flew at half-staff, more than 2,000 teenagers marched to the ruins of the gas chambers at Auschwitz, and Germans read aloud the names of nearly 56,000 Nazi victims Sunday in a tribute to the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust.

“Never again will the threat of annihilation hang over our children,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a ceremony in Jerusalem. “Never again will they have to live in fear and terror.”

Jews around the world, joined Israel Sunday on it’s annual day of mourning for Holocaust victims.

At Oswiecim, Poland, site of the notorious Auschwitz death camp, about 2,500 Jewish teen-agers from around the world marched to the ruins of the gas chambers, retracing the steps of the people who died there.

Many of the participants lost relatives in the Holocaust.

“It is a very important part of my family history,” said Lauren Eber, an 18-year-old high school student from San Francisco.

Hundreds of Jews also gathered at the site of the ghetto in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to honor the 100,000 Jews who died in that former Soviet republic during World War II.

The Germans set out to destroy the ghetto 54 years ago as they retreated before the advancing Red Army. On Oct. 21-23, 1943, German soldiers walked its streets, killing any survivors.

Berliners marked the day by reading aloud the names of nearly 56,000 Berlin Jews killed by the Nazis - a 26-hour task.