Identifying the names of nearly 6 million Jews perished during Holocaust is acute scientific, public and national problem. More than two millions names have still not been found, it is estimated that over a million of the unidentified names are from Ukraine.

Presentation of the project in Dnepropetrovsk and ceremony in memory of Holocaust victims organized by Tkuma has become an important public event and attracted attention of Jewish community and local authorities. 

The Ceremony that took place in the Big hall of the Golden Rose Synagogue ( Dnepropetrovsk) hosted the audience of more than 400 including survivors and veterans who fought against the fascism.  Next to veterans there were children who gathered from different schools of Dnepropetrovsk to participate in “Memory about the Catastrophe and Heroism” Tkuma Jewish-Ukrainian youth seminar.  Representatives of state and public organizations and guests from different countries participated in the ceremony as well.

While opening the ceremony, Svetlana Gerus, Deputy Director of Tkuma center emphasized that the Day of Holocaust victims is a tragedy the lessons of which are vitally important for the mankind. At the same day the International project “Identifying the Names of the Holocaust Victims” has been launched. The project serves as memory about the past for the sake of the future, the memory about six millions.

“Izkor” prayer is traditionally offered by at the Day of the Catastrophe. Grigoriy Korol’, the chairman of the Jewish religious community of Dnepropetrovsk, took the floor to read the prayer. Than the prayer was sincerely performed by Igor Babenko, opera singer of the Dnepropetrovsk theater of Opera and ballet.

Mark Shlyak, Tkuma Supervisory Board Chairman, Shauli Dritter, JDC Country Director in Northern and Eastern Urkaine, Dmitriy Apartsev, head of Jewish Agency “Sohnut” in South-Eastern Ukraine, Yuliya Gur, the Second Secretary of Embassy of Israel in Ukraine, Director of Israel cultural center in Dnepropetrovsk addressed the audience emphasizing the significance of the project and their personal connection.

In the memory of 6 million lost were lit candles of Memory.

The right to light the first candle was given to Saveliy Bass, veteran of the Great patriotic War who said: “I’m lighting this candle in memory of Jews – soldiers of the Soviet Army and partisans, in memory of men and women perished in the fights against fascism”.

The right to light the second candle was given to Faina Vakhutinskaya who survived Holocaust and said: “I’m lighting this candle in the memory of my family perished during Holocaust and millions of other Holocaust victims – men, women, and children”.

The right to light the third candle was given to Vladimir Koretskiy, the Righteous among the nations who said: “I’m lighting this candle in memory of Jews – Holocaust victims and brave men – Ukrainians, Russians, representatives of other nationalities who gave their lives for the sake of Jews”.

The right to light the forth candle was given to participants of the “Metsuda” Jewish

Young Leadership project who said: “I’m lighting this candle in memory of Jewish youths and girls whose life was taken by the Holocaust flame. We, the forth generation of Jews went through the Catastrophe, promise to remember and pass to the next generations about suffering and heroism of our ancestor thanks to whom we live and see this world”.

The right to light the fifth candle was given to Nikolay Abraimov a representative of the Regional State Administration who said: “I’m lighting this candle in memory of innocent Jews who perished during Holocaust as well as Ukrainians, Russians and representatives of other nationalities – all the victims of war so that such tragedies never happened with any one”.

The right to light the sixth candle was given to Helen Grinberg and her little son Sasha. Helen Grinberg said: I’m lighting this candle in memory of women and children – Holocaust victims”.

The participants of the Ceremony honored the memory of the lost with the Minute of Silence.  The goals and the details of the project were presented to the audience by Boris Maftzir, representative of Yad Vashem, coordinator of the project.