The annual International Holocaust Survivors Night will be held virtually on the fifth night of Hanukkah, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) announced Wednesday.
The event, which honors Holocaust survivors worldwide, will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and is hosted by actor and director Noah Emmerich alongside Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider. This year’s theme is “Resilience.”
Celebrity greetings will include messages from Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Debra Messing, Jason Alexander, Julianna Margulies, Mayim Bialik, Steve Guttenberg, Adam Arkin, Patricia Heaton, Tovah Feldshuh, Dar Zuzovsky, Adir Miller, Bebe Neuwirth and Steven Skybell. Television anchors Wolf Blitzer, Dana Bash, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin; singer Shulem Lemmer; and social media influencer Montana Tucker will also participate. Musical performances will be provided by Barry Manilow and Six13.
The event will pay tribute to the late Rob Reiner, who pre‑recorded a Hanukkah message for survivors before his sudden death earlier this week.
Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said survivors’ courage “to rebuild, remember and retell the lessons of the Holocaust is a profound gift.” He extended gratitude to survivors around the world for “lighting our path forward.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement that “the Holocaust is a part of German history that can never be considered ‘in the past’… we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that Jewish men and women can live without fear.”
Dignitaries confirmed to participate include Merz; German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil; State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance Rolf Bösinger; U.S. Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council chairman Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat; U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain; and Scott Lasensky, senior bureau official at the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. Leaders of major Holocaust institutions — including Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Director Sara J. Bloomfield and Jack Kliger of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York — will also take part.
Messages of remembrance will be featured from Holocaust survivors around the world, including former Anti‑Defamation League Director Abe Foxman, Ambassador Colette Avital, Max Arpels Lezer of the World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, and Ella Blumenthal, a 104‑year‑old survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz and Bergen‑Belsen.
This year’s program also includes music arranged by 105‑year‑old Auschwitz survivor and conductor László Roth, and a candlelighting ceremony at Yad Vashem led by survivors. Roth, who resumed his musical career after World War II in Budapest, went on to a 75‑year career conducting internationally.
The Claims Conference encouraged people worldwide to honor survivors locally by lighting candles with their communities and sharing photos and videos on social media using the hashtag #IHSN2025.
International Holocaust Survivors Night began nearly a decade ago as the only global observance honoring Holocaust survivors and their contributions. The event concludes with an official menorah lighting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and has grown into a virtual celebration involving nearly 20 countries across six continents.
The event is free and can be viewed here on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. GMT / 9 p.m. Israel time.
Founded in 1951, the Claims Conference is a nonprofit that negotiates compensation for Holocaust survivors and secures restitution for stolen Jewish property. Since 1952, Germany has paid more than $95 billion in indemnification. In 2025, the Claims Conference will distribute approximately $530 million in individual compensation and $960 million for survivor welfare needs.