In pictures: Holocaust Day

The six million Jews who were killed in Nazi Holocaust are being commemorated across the world. Israel has set aside a whole day to remember the dead.

Israelis held a two-minute silence to commemorate the Holocaust victims

As sirens wailed across the country, civilians and soldiers stopped in their tracks

Children at a new school in the isolated Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom also joined in

A 72-year-old Holocaust survivor lit one of six flames at a ceremony at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial

The anniversary comes as prospects for peace are low after seven months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting

US President Bush and his wife paid their respects at Washington's Holocaust Museum

Similar ceremonies have been taking place in Europe, such as this one at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz