Between 1939 and 1945, during World War II, six milllion European Jews were murdered by the Nazis. Some were beaten to death, some starved to death. Others were shot and yet others were exterminated in gas chambers.

It is hard to understand what a large number six million really is. Suppose a very diligent secretary were to be given the job of typing out the names of all those who died. If she were to work eight hours a day (with no breaks whatsoever), five days a week, consistently typing 80 words a minute (40 names a minute--we will assume that each name is two words), she would be able to type 96,000 names a week. It would take her 62.5 weeks (more than 14 months) to finish the job.

Or imagine that in memory of those six million men, women and children, someone were to decide to say each of their names aloud. If he spent one second saying each name and never stopped to eat, drink or sleep, the task would take 69 days 10 hours and 40 minutes. Over two months.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember the Holocaust victims. In some cases, entire families were wiped out, leaving no one behind to mourn. Avi's family was "luckier". I would like to share their story.

Avi's father, Haim, was born in Poland in April 1939. Both of Haim's parents came from large families with many brothers and sisters. After the Nazi invasion of Poland in September of that year, Haim's father, Zalman, decided that it would be wise to take his wife and baby and to escape. He begged his and his wife's families to leave with them, but they refused to acknowledge the impending danger. So Zalman and his wife, Malka, took baby Haim and ran away to Russia, saying good-bye to their families. They would never see them again. Their parents and all of their sisters and brothers, with the exception of one, were to later be murdered by the Nazis.

Avi knows very little of his grandparents' escape to Russia, or of their life there during the war. Today, only his grandmother, Malka, remains to tell the story. One of the memories that she shares is that of throwing six-month-old Haim over the fence at the border and losing him in the snow.

While in Russia, Malka gave birth to two more sons, Ya'akov and Ze'ev. After the war, the couple and their three sons arrived at a displaced persons camp in Germany. There, a fourth son, David, was born. I do not know all of the facts, but I imagine that it must have been in the displaced persons camp that they learned of the fate of their families. Eventually, the family arrived in Israel, where their fifth and final son, Pinhas, was born.

As a mother, I cannot imagine taking my children to live in hiding in a strange country. The hardships that Zalman and Malka Nirenberg must have faced are incomprehensible. Yet the foresight, courage and stubborness of Zalman Nirenberg saved his family. Due to his hard-headed nature, there are now 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren of Zalman and Malka Nirenberg living in Israel and the United States. I am thankful and proud to count my husband and children among them.

To commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, there are national and local ceremonies. On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, etc. are closed. Regular television and radio programming is replaced by documentaries and somber music. On the following morning, a siren is sounded nationwide and we stand in silence to remember the dead.

We must never forget what happened to our people in those six years. We must not forget the six million who left us. However, I believe that we must also remember that despite his best efforts, Hitler was NOT able to annihilate the entire Jewish people. Though our numbers have been reduced, we are still a living, thriving nation.