Yad Vashem

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Aerial view of Yad Vashem.
The Hall of Names containing Pages of Testimony commemorating the millions of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.
Cattle car memorial.
Valley of the Destroyed Communities.

Yad Vashem (Hebrew: יָד וַשֵׁם) is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Yad Vashem is located on the western slope of Mount Herzl on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, 804 meters (2,638 ft) above sea level and adjacent to the Jerusalem Forest. The memorial consists of a 180-dunam (18.0 ha; 44.5-acre) complex containing the Holocaust History Museum, memorial sites such as the Children's Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, The Museum of Holocaust Art, sculptures, outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house, and an educational center named The International School for Holocaust Studies.

When Yad Vashem came into being, a core goal of its founding visionaries was to recognize gentiles who, at personal risk, and without a financial or evangelistic motive, chose to save their Jewish brethren from the ongoing genocide during the Holocaust. Those recognized by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations are honored in a section of Yad Vashem known as the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Yad Vashem is the second most-visited tourist site in Israel, after the Western Wall. Its curators charge no fee for admission and welcome approximately one million visitors a year.

Etymology

The name "Yad Vashem" is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah: Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name (yad vashem) better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 56:5). Naming the Holocaust memorial "yad vashem" conveys the idea of establishing a national depository for the names of Jewish victims who have no one to carry their name after death.[1]

History

The idea of establishing a memorial in the historical Jewish homeland for Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust was conceived during World War II, as a response to reports of the mass murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied countries. Yad Vashem was first proposed in September 1942, at a board meeting of the Jewish National Fund, by Mordecai Shenhavi, a member of Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek.[1] In August 1945, the plan was discussed in greater detail at a Zionist meeting in London. A provisional board of Zionist leaders was established that included David Remez as chairman, Shlomo Zalman Shragai, Baruch Zuckerman, and Shenhavi. In February 1946, Yad Vashem opened an office in Jerusalem and a branch office in Tel Aviv. In June that year, convened its first plenary session. In July 1947, the First Conference on Holocaust Research was held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. However, the outbreak in May 1948 of the War of Independence, brought operations to a standstill for two years. In 1953, the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, unanimously passed the Yad Vashem Law, establishing the Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.

The location of Yad Vashem on the western side of Mount Herzl, an area devoid of weighty historical associations, was chosen to convey a symbolic message of "rebirth" after destruction, unlike the Chamber of the Holocaust, founded in 1948 on Mount Zion.[2][3] Thus, the latter museum, whose walls are lined with plaques memorializing over 2,000 Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust,[4][5] portrays the Holocaust as a continuation of the "death and destruction" that plagued Jewish communities throughout Jewish history.[6]

The new Yad Vashem museum was designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, replacing the previous 30-year old exhibition.[7] It is the culmination of a $100 million decade-long expansion project.[8]

In November 2008, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was appointed Chairman of Yad Vashem to replace Tommy Lapid.[9]

The Eternal Flame.

Objectives

The goals of Yad Vashem are education, research and documentation and commemoration.[10] Yad Vashem organizes professional development courses for educators both in Israel and throughout the world; develops age-appropriate study programs, curricula and educational materials for Israeli and foreign schools in order to teach students of all ages about the Holocaust; holds exhibitions about the Holocaust; collects the names of Holocaust victims;[11] collects photos, documents and personal artifacts; and collects Pages of Testimony memorializing victims of the Holocaust.[12] Yad Vashem seeks to preserve the memory and names of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and the numerous Jewish communities destroyed during that time. It holds ceremonies of remembrance and commemoration; supports Holocaust research projects; develops and coordinates symposia, workshops and international conferences; and publishes research, memoirs, documents, albums and diaries related to the Holocaust.[13] Yad Vashem also honors non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, founded in 1993, offers guides and seminars for students, teachers and educators, and develops pedagogic tools for use in the classroom.[14] Yad Vashem trains 10,000 domestic and foreign teachers every year.[15]

Museum

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

Yad Vashem opened to the public in 1957. The exhibits focused on Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto, the uprisings in Sobibor and Treblinka death camps, and the struggle of survivors to reach Israel.[16]

In 1993, planning began for a larger, more technologically advanced museum to replace the old one. The new building, designed by Canadian-Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, consists of a long corridor connected to 10 exhibition halls, each dedicated to a different chapter of the Holocaust. The museum combines the personal stories of 90 Holocaust victims and survivors and presents approximately 2,500 personal items including artwork and letters donated by survivors and others. The old historical displays revolving around anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism have been replaced by exhibits that focus on the personal stories of Jews killed in the Holocaust. According to Avner Shalev, the museum's curator and chairman, a visit to the new museum revolves around "looking into the eyes of the individuals. There weren't six million victims, there were six million individual murders."[16]

The new museum was dedicated on 15 March 2005 in the presence of leaders from 40 states and former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan. President of Israel Moshe Katzav said that Yad Vashem serves as "an important signpost to all of humankind, a signpost that warns how short the distance is between hatred and murder, between racism and genocide."[17]

Architecture

Prism skylight.

The museum, designed by Moshe Safdie, is shaped like a triangular concrete "prism" that cuts through the landscape, illuminated by a 200-meter long skylight. Visitors follow a preset route that takes them through underground galleries that branch off from the main hall.[8] Visitors are guided into the galleries by a series of impassable gaps that of the Holocaust are highlighted.[18]

Hall of Names

The Hall of Names is a memorial to the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The main hall is composed of two cones: one ten meters high, with a reciprocal well-like cone excavated into the underground rock, its base filled with water. On the upper cone is a display featuring 600 photographs of Holocaust victims and fragments of Pages of Testimony. These are reflected in the water at the bottom of the lower cone, commemorating those victims whose names remain unknown. Surrounding the platform is the circular repository, housing the approximately 2.2 million Pages of Testimony collected to date, with empty spaces for those yet to be submitted. Since the 1950s, Yad Vashem has collected approximately 110,000 audio, video and written testimonies by Holocaust survivors. As the survivors age, the program has expanded to visiting survivors in their homes to tape interviews. Adjoining the hall is a study area with a computerized data bank where visitors can do online searches for the names of Holocaust victims.

Janusz Korczak and the children, memorial

Righteous Among the Nations

Main article: Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among
the Nations
Notable individuals
By country
Memorial to the Jewish children murdered by the Nazis.

One of Yad Vashem's tasks is to honor non-Jews who risked their lives, liberty or positions to save Jews during the Holocaust. To this end a special independent Commission, headed by a retired Supreme Court Justice, was established. The commission members, including historians, public figures, lawyers and Holocaust survivors, examine and evaluate each case according to a well-defined set of criteria and regulations. The Righteous receive a certificate of honor and a medal and their names are commemorated in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations,[19] on the Mount of Remembrance, Yad Vashem. This is an ongoing project that will continue for as long as there are valid requests, substantiated by testimonies or documentation. 555 individuals were recognized during 2011, and as of 2011, more than 24,300 individuals have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

Art gallery

Yad Vashem houses the world's largest collection of artwork produced by Jews and other victims of Nazi occupation in 1933-1945. Yehudit Shendar, the senior art curator of Yad Vashem, supervises a 10,000-piece collection, adding 300 pieces a year, most of them donated by survivors' families or discovered in attics.[20] Included in the collection are works by: Alice Lok Cahana, Samuel Bak, Felix Nussbaum

Prizes awarded by Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem awards the following book prizes:

  • Yad Vashem Prize for Children's Holocaust Literature
  • Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research, established in 2011 in memory of Abraham Meir Schwartzbaum, Holocaust survivor, and his family who was murdered in the Holocaust. It is awarded annually in recognition of high scholarly research and writing on the Holocaust.[21]
  • Sussman Prize for Paintings of the Shoah.
  • The annual Buchman Foundation Memorial Prize, for writers and scholars for Holocaust-related works. Recipients include: [22]
    • 2007: Hanoch Bartov, for Beyond the Horizon, Across the Street
    • 2007: Shlomo Aharonson, for Hitler, the Allies nd the Jews
    • Earlier: Aharon Applefeld, Alona Frankel (2005[23]), Ida Fink, Dina Porat, Lizzie Doron, Amir Gottfreund, Itamar Levin.

Awards bestowed upon Yad Vashem

  • In 1973, the Pinkas HaKehillot (Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities) project of Yad Vashem was awarded the Israel Prize, for its special contribution to society and the State.[24]
  • In 2003, Yad Vashem was awarded the Israel Prize, for lifetime achievement and its special contribution to society and the State.[25][26]
  • In September 2007, Yad Vashem received the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord.[27] The Prince of Asturias Awards is presented in 8 categories. The Award for Concord is bestowed upon the person, persons or institution whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, to the struggle against injustice or ignorance, to the defense of freedom, or whose work has widened the horizons of knowledge or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving mankind's heritage.
  • On 25 October 2007, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev was honored with the Légion d’Honneur for his "extraordinary work on behalf of Holocaust remembrance worldwide." French President Nicolas Sarkozy personally presented Shalev with the award in a special ceremony at the Elysee Palace.
  • In 2011, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev received the City of Jerusalem’s prestigious Patron of Jerusalem Award in recognition of his public activities focused in Israel's capital and on its behalf.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Ethics of Memory, Avishai Margalit
  2. ↑ Edrei, Arye (2007-06-07). "Holocaust Memorial". In Doron Mendels. On Memory: An Interdisciplinary Approach. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-03911-064-3. 
  3. ↑ Singer, Yehudit (May 6, 2008). "60 Years of Commemorating the Holocaust". ShiurTimes: 36–37. 
  4. ↑ Amdur Sack, Sallyann (1995). A guide to Jewish genealogical research in Israel. Avotaynu. p. 67. ISBN 0962637378. 
  5. ↑ Jacobs, Daniel; Eber, Shirley; Silvani, Francesca (1998). Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 371. ISBN 1858282489. 
  6. ↑ Stauber, Roni (2007). The Holocaust in Israeli Public Debate in the 1950s: Ideology and memory. Vallentine Mitchell. p. 99. ISBN 085303723X. 
  7. ↑ Jerusalem: Yad Vashem
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 New Yad Vashem museum to emphasize 'human story' Jerusalem Post
  9. ↑ "Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Appointed Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council". .yadvashem.org. Retrieved 2012-07-21. 
  10. ↑ "The International School for Holocaust Studies". .yadvashem.org. Retrieved 2012-04-24. 
  11. ↑ About: The Central Database of Shoah Victims Names
  12. ↑ "The Hall of Names". Web.archive.org. 2008-04-17. Archived from the original on 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2012-04-24. 
  13. ↑ Our Memory of the Past and for the Future: Based on the Proceedings of an International Forum in Jerusalem, Israel, 15-21 September 2003
  14. ↑ International School for Holocaust Studies
  15. ↑ http://www.economist.com/news/international/21584008-study-holocaust-expanding-worldwidefor-differing-reasons-bearing-witness-ever Remembering the Holocaust: Bearing witness ever more
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 'This is ours and ours alone'
  17. ↑ Kofi Annan commented at the opening, "The number of Holocaust survivors who are still with us is dwindling fast. our children are growing up just as rapidly. They are beginning to ask their first questions about injustice. What will we tell them? Will we say, 'That's just the way the world is'? Or will we say instead, 'We are trying to change things—to find a better way'? Let this museum stand as a testimony that we are striving for a better way. Let Yad Vashem inspire us to keep striving, as long as the darkest dark stalks the face of the earth." Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel
  18. ↑ New Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum Opens Tuesday, Jerusalem Post
  19. ↑ "Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide - The Yad Vashem Garden of the Righteous". Gariwo. Retrieved 2012-07-24. 
  20. ↑ Holocaust art endures at Israel's Yad Vashem museum
  21. ↑ "The Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research 2012"
  22. ↑ http://yad-vashem.org.il/yv/en/pressroom/magazine/pdf/yv_magazine44.pdf
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ "Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1973 (in Hebrew)". 
  25. ↑ "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipient's C.V. (2003)". 
  26. ↑ "Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew)- Judges' Considerations for Grant of Prize to Recipient in 2003". 
  27. ↑ Yad Vashem Receives Prince of Asturias Award for Concord
  28. ↑ "Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev to Receive 2011 Patron of Jerusalem (Yakir Yerushalayim) Award". Yad Vashem. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2013. 

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Coordinates: 31°46′27″N 35°10′32″E / 31.77417°N 35.17556°E / 31.77417; 35.17556

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