Forty-nine candles represented the 12 million Holocaust victims during a candlelight ceremony at the Union Oval Tuesday night.

Students were observing April 11’s Yom Hashoah, translated to National Day of Remembrance from the Hebrew language. Students lit candles, prayed and read a list of 5,000 names of those who died in concentration camps from 1939-45.

Ashley Berman, vice president of religion and education for Hillel, said students need to be aware of the tragedies affecting the world’s history and try to prevent genocide from occurring today.

“I think that as Americans and as University students, sometimes we forget that things like this are possible and it’s very, very important to never forget the Holocaust,” she said.

Freshman Morgan Levin said the event reminded her of when she observed the day at her Jewish center in Akron. With messages of “light a candle” and “read a name” written on the ground, Levin said events like these help interest people in history.

“I want to get it out there [that the Holocaust] happened and it’s something we don’t want to happen again,” Levin said.

Freshman Sophie Goldenberg was one of several mourners reading the names on a list provided by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

With her Star of David necklace visible, Goldenberg was reminded of how tragic the killing of both Jews and non-Jews was during the Nazi regime in Germany. She said she appreciates the University and Hillel hosting the event to make the entire campus aware of one of the world’s most tragic events.

“Everyone’s reading separately to show how overwhelming the amount of people that died was,” Goldenberg said.