At the ceremony, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered remarks. Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev lit the Memorial Torch. Esther Miron spoke on behalf of the survivors.

Six survivors were honored to light memorial torches, Moshe Ha-Elion, Moshe Jakubowitz, Jeannine Sebbane-Bouhanna, Max Privler, Moshe Porat, and Elka Abramovitz. A child or grandchild of each honoree assisted in lighting the flames. A video recalling their harrowing experiences in the Shoah was shown for each survivor. The audience, sitting in the bitter cold plaza, was silent during each amazing story of survival.

While every one of the stories was riveting, the story and chest full of Russian medal's of Max Privler stood out. Privler was born in 1931 in the village of Mikulichin in Poland (now Ukraine) to David and Malka, the second of four children. His family owned land, factories, shops, and even a school and a synagogue.

In June 1941, the Germans occupied the region and the family’s property was confiscated. In March 1942, Gestapo men and Ukrainian police broke into Max’s family’s home and took Max and David to the police station. Malka and her younger children were sent to the Stanislawow ghetto. The next day, Max and David were brought to the forest with a group of Jews. A second before they were shot, David pushed his young son Max into the killing pit, and was shot along with the others, falling dead on top of the 11 year-old boy. One bullet lodged itself into Max’s shoulder and remained there for over 25 years. Max managed to climb out of the pit at night and fled to the home of the Boyuk-Nimchuk family, Ukrainian friends, who hid him.

One day, Max snuck into the ghetto with some food for his family and saw Malka fighting a Gestapo man, who was pulling her baby from her arms. He witnessed his mother being hanged and his baby brother murdered by the Germans.

On another occasion, Max was caught and sent to work in the family factory. After six months, the child laborers, including Max, were trucked to the forest to be executed. Max managed to flee to the adjacent forest, where he joined a group of partisans.

When Max suffered from frostbite, a passing doctor sent him with a partisan commander who was headed to Moscow for treatment. After he had recuperated, Max enlisted in the Red Army and was sent to a school training children to perform military operations. His mastery of five languages—Polish, Czech, German, Ukrainian and Russian—was an asset.

Max commanded a platoon that conducted intelligence and sabotage, and helped liberate Kraków and Auschwitz. However, he sustained serious injuries in the battles to liberate Prague. He was buried under the rubble of a building that had collapsed, with an iron rod lodged in his head. He was pulled out and hospitalized, but remained unconscious for months until he recovered.

After the war, Max lived in Ukraine. He immigrated to Israel in 1990 and remains active in the Association of Disabled Veterans of the War against Nazism, as well as the commemoration of children who served in the Red Army during WWII, and is the author of several books on the subject.

Max and Muza z"l have two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. One of Max's grandsons, who is currently serving in the IDF, assisted him in lighting the torch, both posed for BJL prior to the ceremony.

Also included in the evening program, the traditional memorial service – Tehilim: Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Lau; Kaddish: Rishon LeZion Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef; El Maleh Rahamim, the Jewish prayer for the souls of the martyrs: Cantor Lipa Glantz.

Other participants in the ceremony included singers Roni Dalumi and the IDF Paratroopers’ Honor Guard. Narrative pieces were given by actor Adir Miller. The evening’s MC was Hila Korach. The entire program was broadcast life on Israeli television.