Jerusalem: Yad Vashem

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial... an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 56:5)

Yad Vashem, the national Authority for the Remembrance of the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust, was established in 1953 by act of the Knesset (Israels parliament) to commemorate the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the years 1933-1945. The Authority also commemorates the heroism and fortitude of the Jewish partisans and the fighters in the Ghetto revolts, as well as the actions of the "Righteous Among the Nations" (non-Jews who saved the lives of Jews).

Located on Har Hazikaron (Heb., Hill of Remembrance), a ridge on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, the Yad Vashem Memorial and Institute includes several commemorative monuments, an historical museum, a central archive and a research center for the documentation of the Holocaust.

The task of Yad Vashem is to perpetuate the memory and lessons of the Holocaust for future generations.

Central state ceremonies are held at Yad Vashem each year on Remembrance Day for the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust, which is observed according to the Hebrew Calendar on the 27th day of Nisan (2 May, this year), the anniversary of the start of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Revolt.

The principle memorial at Yad Vashem is the Hall of Remembrance (Ohel Yizkor). The severe concrete-walled structure with a low tent-like roof stands empty, save for an eternal flame. Engraved in the black basalt floor are the names of 21 Nazi extermination camps, concentration camps and killing sites in central and eastern Europe. A crypt in front of the memorial flame contains ashes of victims.

The approach to the Hall of Remembrance is lined with trees planted in honor of non-Jewish men and women - "Righteous Among the Nations" - who, at the risk of their own lives, attempted to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. Several of the trees honor members of the Christian clergy, among them a Franciscan priest in Assisi, the bishop of the Greek island of Zakinthos, a Polish nun in Lithuania and a French Protestant pastor. Over 16,000 persons have been honored with the title "Righteous Among the Nations".

Approximately 1.5 million Jewish children perished in the Holocaust. They are specially remembered in the nearby Childrens Memorial, an underground cavern in which the flickering flames of memorial candles are reflected in an infinity of tiny lights within the prevailing darkness.

A central element of Yad Vashem is the Historical Museum, which presents the history of the Holocaust through photographs, artifacts, documents and audio-visual aids. The presentation is chronological, showing the progression of Nazi anti-Jewish policies from persecution to ghettoization to systematic mass murder. Displays also present the history of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust, including the heroism of Jewish partisans.

The Yad Vashem Archive collection, the largest and most comprehensive on the Holocaust in the world, comprises 55 million pages of documents, nearly 100,000 photographs, film footage and the videotaped testimonies of survivors. The library contains more than 80,000 titles, thousands of periodicals, and a large number of rare documents.

The International Institute for Holocaust Research coordinates and supports research on national and international levels, organizes conferences and colloquia, and publishes a variety of important works on the Holocaust, including memoirs and diaries. To date, the Institute has published 18 volumes of the projected 32-volume Encyclopedia of Communities (Pinkasei Hakehilot), an historical-geographical compendium of every Jewish community destroyed by the Nazis and their collaborators.

A principal mission of Yad Vashem is education. The International School for Holocaust Studies each year holds courses for over 100,000 students, 50,000 soldiers and thousands of educators. Courses for teachers are offered in seven languages in addition to Hebrew, and the school also sends its professional staff abroad to further education about the Holocaust.

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