At noon today there was a special Knesset Plenum sitting to mark the 66th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
World War II veterans in the gallery (see photo) wore their old uniforms and many medals.
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These stones in a Tel Aviv park are dedicated to those veterans and their 1,500,000 Jewish comrades who fought in the Second World War..
An estimated 300,000 of the Jewish soldiers and partisans were killed in the fighting..
Please enlarge and read the plaque.I found this information in a web page about the booklet The Jewish Fighter in World War II:
"The estimated numbers of Jewish men and women who fought in the ranks of the various armies are
| USA | 550 000 |
| Australia | 3 900 |
| Israel (Jewish Volunteers) | 30 000 |
| Britain | 62 000 |
| USSR | 500 000 |
| Yugoslavia | 6000 (over 4000 in the Partisan army) |
| Greece | 13 000 |
| Poland | 122 000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 5 500 |
| France | 35 000 |
| Canada | 17 000 |
| South Africa | 10 000 |
There are no facts and estimates on the number of Jews in the Belgian, Dutch, and New Zealand armies. A careful estimate puts the number of Jewish partisans in the occupied parts of the USSR at 20 000 - 25 000, and in the other European countries at another 10 000, including the anti-Nazi underground."
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I'm glad there were a few in the French army too.
ReplyDeleteMay 8 here.
Ciel, I should have written in the post that this year Israel could not do it on the real May 8 V-E Day because we had our own Remembrance Day for Israel's soldiers starting that evening.
ReplyDeleteThe World War II veterans had a parade in Jerusalem on May 11
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=220062
Everlasting glory!
ReplyDeleteIt is not a song, it is saying, expressing strong sorrow and admiration at the same time. I think it was invented right after WW2. Its full version is "Everlasting glory to the heroes!"
ReplyDeleteIrina, thanks for answering my question about "Vechnaya slava."
ReplyDeleteNow that you teach me the full meaning of the words written on the plaque, it is even more touching.
I saw the parade in the 90s with many elderly Russians proudly wearing their decorated uniforms.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity that the end of a nightmare was only the beginning of another one for Eastern Europe...
A silent bow in respect.
ReplyDeleteThey were brave men indeed. But the Knesset Speaker is correct. "Nazism was defeated, but the Nazi ideology and its anti-Semitic roots are still nested in many places around the world". I am not sure how much the world learned after the tragedies of WW2.
ReplyDeleteWow... almost as many in USSR as in USA. Interesting.
ReplyDeletePrayer, Silence, Meditation.
ReplyDeleteMy mind can hardly grasp the numbers.
ReplyDeleteThe simplicity, starkness and solidity of this monument is apt.
This was a war where there was clearly EVIL that needed to be stopped. I wish it could have been stopped sooner.
ReplyDelete