B’nai B’rith International (Atlanta) is proud to present the
“Unto Every Person There is a Name” 2026 Remembrance Ceremony this year, the 37th anniversary of this global Shoah Memorial Initiative.
This public recitation of names of Holocaust victims will be held around the world on Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Day observed this year on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. We will gather in person in Atlanta and on ZOOM on April 14th for an especially moving Holocaust memorial observance. The in-person program will be held at Feldman Hall in the Selig Center (1440 Spring St., Atlanta 30309).
The
Achim/Gate City Lodge of B’nai B’rith International invites you to join us and mark Holocaust Remembrance Day either at Feldman Hall or from your homes, offices, and schools. Help us to restore the memory of those murdered during the Holocaust by bringing “Unto Every Person There is a Name” to Atlanta through an in-person gathering at Feldman Hall or a Zoom virtual webinar on Tuesday, April 14th, from 8:45 am to 11:00 am Live & Virtual at Feldman Hall and 11:00 am to 4:00 PM via Zoom.
We invite readers and attendees to register in advance: https://forms.gle/KVo4PjSwzmg6ZULw7 (A Zoom link will be sent to all registered readers and attendees)
Participants read the names of Holocaust victims, along with their own loved ones’ names, where they were murdered, and their age at the time of death. Individuals who wish to participate as READERS of the names should indicate this on our online registration form, or contact Harry Lutz, program chair, at
harry.lutz.45@gmail.com or 678-485- 8179. We will provide lists of names, and you may also read the names of the family members you have lost.
The “Unto Every Person There is a Name” ceremony provides the opportunity to remember the victims of the Holocaust, six million Jews, among them one and a half million children, as the names of victims are read aloud, they are remembered. The annual recitation of the names of victims is one way of posthumously restoring the victims’ names, of commemorating them as individuals. We seek in this manner to honor the memory of the victims, to grapple with the enormity of the murder, and to combat Holocaust denial and distortion.
Harry Lutz, longtime local chair of Atlanta’s B’nai B’rith Lodge “Unto Every Person There Is A Name” Remembrance Ceremony shared, “The Unto Every Person There is a Name remembrance ceremony is always an incredibly moving experience for me, both hearing names being read and reading aloud the names of victims myself. I am constantly picturing in my mind that there are more than SIX MILLION of these names.”
We are personally inviting you and your friends, family, and colleagues to attend in person, participate as a Reader, or just watch this important remembrance ceremony. We are asking local organizations to publicize the event to their email and social media networks.
Marcus Brodzki, President of Atlanta’s Achim/Gate City Lodge of B’nai B’rith International, reflected, “For many on these lists, it is the only time their name will be said aloud, as their entire family was murdered or there is no one left to remember them. The Atlanta community must join this global effort to memorialize the six million individuals we lost in the Holocaust.”
The project is coordinated by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in consultation with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and enjoys the official auspices of the President of the State of Israel, the Hon.Isaac Herzog. Coordinated by Yad Vashem through the efforts of four major Jewish organizations – B’nai B’rith International, Nativ, World Jewish Congress, and World Zionist Organization
, “Unto Every Person There is a Name” sets time aside on Yom Hashoah for reading aloud the names of the individual lives mercilessly taken by the Nazis. The readings are done in hundreds of Jewish communities around the world. In the U.S., this
nationally observed program is organized by B’nai B’rith International, and in Atlanta, it is coordinated by the
B’nai B’rith Achim/Gate City Lodge.
The central theme for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026 announced by the international committee is “The Jewish Family During the Holocaust”.
Family members wearing the Jewish badge, Wloclawek, Poland, Yad Vashem Photo Archive, 1949/34
“Despite the considerable shifts effected in Jewish society in different locations between the two world wars, the family unit remained a hub of identity and connection. On the eve of the Holocaust, many Jewish families still adhered to the traditional social construct in which the father was the main breadwinner, and the mother took care of the household and the children. However, with the rise of the Nazi regime, in one fell swoop, hundreds of thousands of Jewish families were no longer able to function as they had in the past. Children were expelled from educational frameworks, and Jews were banned from the public sphere. The Nazis’ violence and savagery toward the Jews, which during the 1930s and the first stages of the war were primarily directed at men, quickly caused the collapse of the traditional family unit, leading to an unavoidable role-reversal. Many men were arrested and conscripted to forced labor, or fled and hid to avoid persecution, and as a result, the responsibility for keeping their families afloat fell on the women. In the face of the punishing decrees, the deportation to ghettos in Eastern Europe, and the ever-present terror, the struggle to sustain their families led many women to search for resourceful ways to make a living. Children often participated in this daily struggle to survive, becoming smugglers or taking on other roles to support their families.
The relentless endeavor to maintain a semblance of normal family life, preserve standards of hygiene, and gather together for meals, even when there was barely anything to eat, was a persistent challenge.”
More details about the theme is at https://www.yadvashem.org/remembrance/archive/central-theme/jewish-family-during-the-holocaust.html.
Message from Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel:
This year, Yad Vashem marks 71 years since the establishment of the Pages of Testimony campaign. This vast and unique collection gained universal recognition in 2013, when it was included in UNESCO’s
“Memory of the World” programme.
You too can take part in our ongoing names collection campaign by downloading
Pages of Testimony, or by submitting them online through the Yad Vashem website:
www.yadvashem.org.
As the bearers of their legacy, we must do everything in our power to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Shoah. By reciting their names, ages, and places where they were murdered, we preserve their memory and remind ourselves that each man, woman, and child was, and is, an entire world.
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