Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Day: San Francisco Community-Wide Commemoration
Wednesday, April 23 @ 10:30am – 8:00pm
Free
Throughout the day, engage in learning, remembrance, and tribute to Holocaust victims.
10:30 – 11:30am
Songs of Truth: A Live Music and Storytelling Event
An unforgettable music and multimedia storytelling tribute to the talent and resilience of Jewish composers who created music while imprisoned during the Holocaust. Performed by the Golden Gate Symphony
12:00 – 6:00pm
Hall of Remembrance
The Hall of Remembrance will be open as a space of reflection to commemorate the 6 million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. An in-person reading of names will begin at 5pm.
4:00 – 5:00pm
A Great Big Secret: Bringing a Survivor’s Story to Light
Join us for a screening of A Great Big Secret, a short film by award-winning filmmaker Yoav Potash, followed by a Q&A with Holocaust survivor Anita. Through interviews, archival footage, and animation, the film reveals Anita’s story as a hidden child in the Netherlands—a story kept untold for decades. The film recently premiered at the San Diego and New York Jewish Film Festivals.
5:00 – 5:45pm
Reading of the Names
Memorial name reading with San Francisco dignitaries and California elected officials
To submit your family names for the Reading of the Names ceremony—click here.
6:00 – 7:15pm
Commemoration and Yizkor Service
Time is running out to hear from Holocaust survivors and liberators. As we mark 80 years since the end of WWII, join us to honor their voices and ensure their stories live on.
Survivors and Liberators Speak: REMEMBER THIS
Short film screening
The Path Forward
A conversation with Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis and Dr. Anita Friedman, JFCS Executive Director
Yizkor Service
With San Francisco clergy
Music by Songs of Truth
Featuring compositions created by musicians imprisoned during the Holocaust—performed by the Golden Gate Symphony, in collaboration with Citizen Film.
7:15 – 8:00pm
Community Reception
Light refreshments and live music