Fifty-two years after the Allies liberated Nazi concentration camps, people around the world and on campus Sunday commemorated the victims of the Holocaust.
Flags in Israel flew at half-mast and some businesses were closed in tribute to the national day of mourning.
In Germany, Poland and Belarus, thousands marched to the ruins of concentration camps like the millions who died there more than a half-century ago. In Berlin, people spent 26 hours reading aloud the names of more than 50,000 Jews killed during the Holocaust.
While the largest commemorations were held in Israel, Poland and Germany, communities all over the world - including Ann Arbor - took part in the ceremonies.
University members gathered at the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust memorial sculpture, near Rackham Auditorium, for a commemoration featuring readings about the Holocaust.
Psychology professor Hank Greenspan delivered an introduction on the importance of remembering the Holocaust.
Members of the Jewish community lit candles following the readings. The candles are a traditional part of the commemoration..
"Yom Hashoah allows Jewish people or other people who were directly affected by the Holocaust to remember and honor the memories of those who were killed," Terri Ginsburg, a member of Ann Arbor's Temple Beth Emeth, said.
"You do that through lighting the yahrzeit candles and saying the Kaddish (the Hebrew prayer of mourning)," Ginsburg said. "It's a time (for people) to either learn more about the Holocaust or process their feelings about it. It's a time both to mourn and also an educational time for people to remember the effect of the historic events of World War II and the consequences."
A theme of Yom Hashoah is the legacy of Holocaust victims. Those who participate in the day pledge that the memory of the victims will live forever.
"It's a way of marking for perpetuity the atrocities that happened 50 years ago," said recent graduate Anthony Scaglioni, former chair of the governing board of the University's Hillel foundation. "By marking it as a national holiday in Israel, it's a way of reminding (Israel's) citizens and Jewish people all over the world that this event will always be remembered."
At a Yom Hashoah service in Israel on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the importance of remembering the Holocaust.
"Never again will the threat of annihilation hang over our children," Netanyahu said at a ceremony in Jerusalem. "Never again will they have to live in fear and terror."
Appropriately, Sunday's ceremonies at the Holocaust memorial in Ann Arbor were attended by people of all ages. The participants ranged from college students to elderly people and children running around in the field nearby.
"It's also important for my kids to know what (Yom Hashoah) is," Ginsburg said. "Even though I didn't take them to the ceremony, they know at their own levels what the Holocaust was."
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.