Days of Remembrance Published April 24, 2008 By Airmen 1st Class Brannon Fissette AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- This year, April 27 to May 4, is being recognized as "Days of Remembrance." This week is set-aside by congress as a memorial and reminder of the millions horrifically lost in the Holocaust. "Yom HaShoah," the day of remembrance recognized by the Jewish community, is May 2. On this day, members of the Jewish community light memorial candles and say prayers in remembrance of those who died. Every year, beginning with the Sunday prior to Yom HaShoa, the United States takes a week to remember the victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was Hitler's idea for the deliberate and systematic execution of the Jewish race. In 1935, Hitler stripped away the citizenship and rights of all Jewish citizens by enacting the Nuremburg laws. Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), November 9,1938 is the date most associated with the actual start of the Holocaust. Thousands of Jews were attacked and many businesses were vandalized. In 1942, six large extermination camps were located in Poland. By the end of the war there were an estimated 15,000 work camps and death camps. It is estimated by most historians that around six million Jews perished in the Holocaust. Men, women and children were put in gas chambers by the thousands. The Jewish were not the only group of people marked for extermination by the Nazi's. Millions of POW's were killed in the same camps, along with the handicapped, homosexuals, ethnic Poles, Romanians, Jehovah's witnesses, and freemasons. All corners of society were affected by the Holocaust. The combined death toll, including all races and religions affected, is said to be between nine and eleven million. Such staggering numbers are impossible to ignore; please take a moment to remember and honor those who died in this great tragedy. Click here to view a Holocaust memorial video created by Airmen 1st Class Brannon Fissette and Randy Young.