Yom Hazikaron on Har Herzl

Sorry, a day late, delayed by Yom Haatzmaut festivities today.



Families massing at Har Herzl just before the siren. The cemetery, unfortunately, was packed. We visited the plots of the fallen from 1948, where most of the graves naturally had few, if any visitors. Some of these photos are of Holocaust survivors: born in Poland, Czechoslovakia, came on aliya in 1946, '48, died in '48. Note the one where the mother's name and place of birth unknown.

There is also a picture of the older two people over a grave: they were the brother and sister of a young soldier brought up and killed at age 16 defending his hometown of Yerushalayim. They shared fascinating stories of their brother and their childhood in pre-war Jerusalem.

Finally, the president and prime minister's entourage in my office at Yad Vashem, the white building beside the limos (at in Oz, the VIPs are behind the curtain).

The Yasamnikim sped off and we were allowed back into the office after taking the lunch leftovers Peres and Bibi left behind. An interesting and moving day.