The six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust were remembered last night at a ceremony in Dublin. A number of Holocaust survivors, including the Belfast author, Mrs Helen Lewis, attended the annual commemoration, Yom Hashoah.
The Chief Rabbi, Dr Gavin Broder, officiated.
Among those who attended were the Israeli ambassador, Mr Zvi Gabay, the Fine Gael TD, Mr Alan Shatter, and the former Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Mervyn Taylor.
Cantor Alwyn Schulman recited the Kaddish, or memorial prayer for the dead, outside the synagogue. A flame was lit beside the Holocaust monument, which bore the inscription, "And to them I will give, in my house and within my wall, an everlasting memorial."
Speaking after the event, Mr Gabay said the Holocaust had left a permanent mark on the Jewish soul. "It has fashioned our national consciousness and the way in which we understand ourselves and the world in which we live." He said the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel this year "affords us an opportunity to reassess different aspects of our history, amongst them the legacy of the Holocaust and in particular the Holocaust survivors' contribution to the establishment of the state of Israel.
"Many survivors, escaping from the horrors, chose to live in Israel and to join in the struggle to establish the state. An estimated 230,000 survivors immigrated to Israel. Having survived one war, they took it upon themselves to fight in another." He asked: "Have the sons and daughters of any other people endured such a trial in their lifetime?"
Mrs Lewis, who is originally from Czechoslovakia, also spoke, recalling her experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Organised by the Jewish Representative Council in Ireland, the ceremony followed evening service at the Terenure synagogue.
The event coincided with similar ceremonies throughout the world. The observance of a day of remembrance began last night in Israel, which marks its 50th anniversary later this month.
More than 70,000 Holocaust survivors had fled to Israel by 1947, playing a central role in establishing the state.
In Poland today more than 7,000 young Jews and up to 1,000 survivors are to attend the annual "March of the Living" from the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, where up to 1.5 million people were murdered. .