Israelis have a national memorial and remembrance day called Yom HaShoah, which commemorates the millions of Jews who met their untimely death on the hands of Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler during the genocide of the Holocaust in World War II. The commemoration was first instigated in 1951. Eight years later, in 1959, the Knesset enacted a legislation which officially recognized the observance of Yom HaShoah. The day usually falls on the 27th of Nisan – in the period between April and May on the Gregorian calendar. However, the date is sometimes shifted by a day if it coincided with the Jewish Sabbath.