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50-585: In 1960, upon request from Yad Vashem , the Federal Ministry of the Interior issued a letter instructing state and local governments to begin collecting records about their former Jewish populations. The German Federal Archives needed 25 years to complete the "immense task" of compiling and reviewing this data. The first edition of the Gedenkbuch was published in 1986 in two volumes, prepared by

100-689: 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 , and in June that year convened its first plenary session. In July 1947, the First Conference on Holocaust Research was held at

150-617: A 10,000-piece collection, adding 300 pieces a year, most of them donated by survivors' families or discovered in attics. Included in the collection are works by Alexander Bogen , Alice Lok Cahana , Samuel Bak , and Felix Nussbaum . Yad Vashem awards the following book prizes: Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations ( Hebrew : גַן חֲסִידִי אוּמות הָעוֹלָם )

200-623: A bibliography. In 2021, the Gedenkbuch was relaunched with a new interface and additional features. Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( Hebrew : יָד וַשֵׁם ; lit.   ' a memorial and a name ' ) is Israel 's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust . It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the survivors; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching

250-555: A certificate of honor and a medal, and their names are commemorated in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations , 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. Five hundred and fifty-five individuals were recognized during 2011, and as of 2021 , more than 27,921 individuals have been recognized as Righteous Among

300-548: A large amount of archival material located in former East Germany and other former eastern territories of Germany . This data was incorporated into a considerably expanded second edition of the Gedenkbuch , which was published in 2006 in four volumes, edited and published by the German Federal Archives. The second edition included victims who had lived within the 1937 borders of the German Reich , with

350-685: A memorial in the historical Jewish homeland for Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust originated during World War II , in response to emerging accounts 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 . In August 1945, the plan was discussed in greater detail at

400-440: A total of approximately 149,600 names. Since December 2007, the Gedenkbuch has been available online; the German Federal Archives continuously publishes additions and corrections based on research and submissions. —Preface to the second edition, written by president of Germany Horst Köhler The core of the online edition is a searchable directory of names. It also contains a detailed chronology of deportations , and

450-624: Is Tzvika Fayirizen. The Director of the International Institute for Holocaust Research is Iael Nidam-Orvieto. The chair for Holocaust studies is Dan Michman. Prof. Yehuda Bauer and Prof. Dina Porat are Senior Academic Advisors. Prof. Porat also served as Chief Historian between the years 2011-2022. The aims of Yad Vashem are education, research and documentation, and commemoration. Yad Vashem organizes professional development courses for educators both in Israel and throughout

500-456: Is a memorial to the six million Jews who were murdered 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

550-477: Is located on the Mount of Remembrance, on the western slope of Mount Herzl , a height in western 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 two types of facilities: some dedicated to the scientific study of the Holocaust, and memorials and museums catering to the needs of

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600-750: Is part of the much larger Yad Vashem complex located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem . Along with some two dozen different structures within the Yad Vashem memorial – which is the second most-visited destination in the country after the Western Wall – the Garden of the Righteous is meant to honor those non-Jews who during the Holocaust risked their lives to save Jews from extermination by

650-550: Is shaped like a triangular concrete prism that cuts through the landscape, illuminated by a 200-meter-long (656 ft) skylight. Visitors follow a preset route that takes them through underground galleries that branch off from the main hall. Safdie is also the architect behind the Children's Memorial and the Deportees (cattle-car) Memorial. The gates are the work of the sculptor David Palombo (1920–1966). The Hall of Names

700-418: 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

750-814: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem . However, the outbreak of the 1947–1949 Palestine war brought operations to a standstill for two years. On 19 August 1953, the Knesset , Israel's Parliament, unanimously passed the Yad Vashem Law, establishing the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority , the aim of which was "the commemoration in the Homeland of all those members of the Jewish people who gave their lives, or rose up and fought

800-515: The Nazis . The Garden was designed by landscape architects Lipa Yahalom and Dan Zur after a decision to construct a memorial where the names of the Righteous Among the Nations would be perpetuated. A most serene site of impressive simplicity, integrated into the natural surroundings of the forested hill, the Garden consists of a series of walls creating open rooms, where the names of all

850-489: The Ładoś Group . The document erroneously called Ładoś and Ryniewicz "consuls". The decision sparked outrage and frustration among the family members of the two other late Polish diplomats, and among survivors. Thirty one of them signed an open letter to Yad Vashem. Rokicki's cousin refused to accept the medal until two other Polish diplomats, Rokicki's superior are recognized as Righteous Among The Nations, too. Polish Ambassador to Switzerland Jakub Kumoch who contributed to

900-501: The Communities" monument at Yad Vashem commemorates over 5,000 Jewish communities destroyed or damaged during the Holocaust, the names of which are engraved on its towering walls. The position of Yad Vashem is that the Holocaust is incomparable to any other calamity previously inflicted on the Jewish people, and therefore the Holocaust cannot be regarded as a continuation of the death and destruction that plagued Jewish communities over

950-1035: The Garden include: the Visitors' Center, Book and Resource Center, the Holocaust History Museum, the Hall of Names, the Square of Hope, the Holocaust Art Museum, the Synagogue, the Exhibitions Pavilion, the Visual Center, the Learning Center, Hall of Remembrance, Pillar of Heroism, Children's Memorial, Janusz Korczak Square, Archives and Library Building, Family Plaza, International School for Holocaust Studies, Administration and Research Building, Monument to

1000-635: The German Federal Archives in Koblenz , and the Arolsen Archives , in Bad Arolsen , Germany. This edition contained approximately 128,000 names and listed victims who had lived in the parts of the German Reich that became West Germany , along with both East and West Berlin. East Germany declined to participate in this project. After the end of the Cold War , researchers gained access to

1050-453: The Holocaust memorial "yad vashem" ( Hebrew : יָד וָשֵׁם , yād wā-šêm , literally "a memorial and a name") conveys the idea of establishing a national depository for the names of Jewish victims who have no one to carry their name after death. The original verse referred to eunuchs who, although they could not have children, could still live for eternity with the Lord. The desire to establish

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1100-485: The Holocaust. The first architect involved in the design of Yad Vashem was Munio Weinraub , who worked on the project from 1943 till the 1960s, together with his architectural partner Al Mansfield . He was approached for this purpose by Mordechai Shenhavi, the initiator and first director of the institution. Weinraub's plans were not realised as a whole, but some of his ideas are visible in Yad Vashem today. The new Holocaust History Museum, designed by Moshe Safdie ,

1150-648: The Holocaust. The International Institute 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. Yad Vashem trains thousands domestic and foreign teachers every year. Yad Vashem operates a web site in several languages, including English, German, Hebrew, Persian , French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. In 2013 Yad Vashem launched an online campaign in Arabic, promoting Yad Vashem's website. The campaign reached over 2.4 million Arabic speakers from around

1200-494: The Holocaust. Published since 1957, it appears in both English and Hebrew editions. Yad Vashem building on the Mount of Remembrance was inaugurated in 1957. Its first exhibits, opened on 1958, focused on documentation of the Holocaust. The second exhibition, opened in 1959, presented paintings from the Holocaust Ghettos and camps. In 1993, planning began for a larger, more technologically advanced museum to replace

1250-659: The Jewish Soldiers, Partisans' Panorama, Valley of the Communities, the Cattle Car Memorial to the Deportees, Warsaw Ghetto Square, the Wall of Remembrance and others. The Garden prominently features the Wall of Honor for each country on which the names of the Righteous are inscribed. Also, the ceremonies of granting the awards are held in the Garden. There are three degrees of reverence granted to rescuers including those already deceased and their relatives;

1300-655: The Nations . Yad Vashem is the second-most-visited Israeli tourist site, after the Western Wall , with approximately one million visitors each year. It charges no admission fee. The name "Yad Vashem" is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah ( 56:5 ): "[To] them will I give in my house and within my walls a [memorial] and a [name], better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting [name], that shall not be cut off [from memory]." Hebrew : וְנָתַתִּי לָהֶם בְּבֵיתִי וּבְחוֹמֹתַי יָד וָשֵׁם , טוֹב מִבָּנִים וּמִבָּנוֹת; שֵׁם עוֹלָם אֶתֶּן לוֹ, אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִכָּרֵת. ). Naming

1350-510: The Nations. Yad Vashem's declared policy is not to provide meaningful recognition, even in a possible new category, to Jews who rescued Jews, regardless of the number of people their activism saved. The stated reason is that Jews had an obligation to save fellow Jews and do not deserve recognition. In April 2019 the Yad Vashem granted the title of Righteous Among the Nations to Konstanty Rokicki and offered "appreciation" to Aleksander Ładoś and Stefan Ryniewicz arguing that Rokicki headed

1400-478: The Nazi enemy and its collaborators," and to set up "a memorial to them, and to the communities, organizations and institutions that were destroyed because they belonged to the Jewish people." On 29 July 1954, the cornerstone for the Yad Vashem building was laid on a hill in western Jerusalem, to be known as the Mount of Remembrance ( Hebrew : Har HaZikaron ); the organization had already begun projects to collect

1450-691: The Pages of Testimonies collected from survivors. The latter is a database of personal information about those who survived and those who were murdered in the Holocaust. Yad Vashem has also acquired access to the database of the International Tracing Service of Bad Arolsen of the International Committee of the Red Cross , and these two databases complement each other for research purposes. One of Yad Vashem's tasks

1500-472: The Righteous initiative was launched in 1992 by Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlberg. Around the site trees are planted everywhere, with plaques attached to each one with names and countries of origin of those being honored. They are most prominent in the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations (also pictured) meant specifically for that purpose, with around 2,000 trees. Other points of interest in the complex aside from

1550-447: The Righteous who had no trees planted in their honor are engraved in alphabetical order on the walls according to their countries of origin. By the time the Garden was dedicated on August 7, 1996, close to 14,000 Righteous had been honored by Yad Vashem. Since then new names are being added every year. In 2011, the Garden was expanded and new walls were constructed. The entire site receives one million visitors annually. The Garden of

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1600-455: The Valley of the Communities, as well as a synagogue . A core goal of Yad Vashem's founders was to recognize non-Jews who, at personal risk and without financial or evangelistic motives, chose to save Jews from the ongoing genocide during the Holocaust. Those recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations are honored in a section of Yad Vashem known as the Garden of the Righteous Among

1650-585: The centuries, but rather as a unique phase in history, an unprecedented endeavor to totally annihilate the Jewish people. In 1982, Yad Vashem sponsored the International Conference on Holocaust and Genocide , which included six presentations on the Armenian genocide . It later withdrew from the conference after threats by the Turkish government that Jewish lives would be put in danger if

1700-626: The chairman of the directorate from 1972 to 1993. He was succeeded by Avner Shalev , who served as chairman until February 2021. Shalev was succeeded as chairman by Dani Dayan in August 2021. The members of the Yad Vashem directorate are Yossi Ahimeir, Daniel Atar, Michal Cohen , Avraham Duvdevani , Boleslaw (Bolek) Goldman, Vera H. Golovensky, Shlomit Kasirer, Yossi Katribas, Yehiel Leket , Dalit Stauber , Zehava Tanne, Shoshana Weinshall, and Dudi Zilbershlag. Former deceased members were Matityahu Drobles , Moshe Ha-Elion and Baruch Shub. The CEO

1750-428: The conference went ahead. On 15 March 2005, a new Museum complex four times larger than the old one opened at Yad Vashem. It included the Holocaust History Museum with a new Hall of Names , a Museum of Holocaust Art, an Exhibitions Pavilion, a Learning Center and a Visual Center. The new Yad Vashem museum was designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie , replacing the previous 30-year-old exhibition. It

1800-853: The discovery of Rokicki also refuted the Yad Vashem's interpretation stating that Rokicki worked under Ładoś and Ryniewicz. Eldad Beck of Israel Hayom suggested that this decision was politically inspired and related to the worsening of Israel-Poland relations due to the controversy over the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance . In summer 2023, a number of scholars, politicians and media figures have criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Kisch for an attempt to remove Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan from his position, noting that this reduces

1850-487: The globe, and the traffic to Yad Vashem's website was tripled. The institution's policy is that the Holocaust "cannot be compared to any other event". In 2009 Yad Vashem fired a docent for comparing the trauma Jews suffered in the Holocaust to the trauma Palestinians suffered during 1947–1949 Palestine war , including the Deir Yassin massacre . Yad Vashem Studies is a peer-reviewed semi-annual scholarly journal on

1900-522: The independence and hence, credibility, of the institution. Criticism of Yad Vashem leadership in the context of political appointments and alleged politicization of the institution have taken place before. In 2020 plans to appoint Effi Eitam to head the institutions have been criticized, due to alleged racist remarks made by the appointee. Yad Vashem houses the world's largest collection of artwork produced by Jews and other victims of Nazi occupation in 1933–1945. The Yad Vashem Art Department supervises

1950-529: The larger public. Among the former there are an International Research Institute for Holocaust Research, an archives, a library, a publishing house and the International School for Holocaust Studies; the latter include 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

2000-400: The lower cone, commemorating those victims whose names remain unknown. Surrounding the platform is the circular repository, housing the approximately 2.7 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,

2050-474: 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. Yad Vashem also honors non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during

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2100-558: The names of individuals killed in the Holocaust ; acquire Holocaust documentation and personal testimonies of survivors for the Archives and Library; and develop research and publications. The memorial and museum opened to the public in 1957. The location of Yad Vashem on the western side of Mount Herzl – an area devoid of weighty historical associations, distinct from the Chamber of the Holocaust , founded in 1948 on Mount Zion –

2150-458: 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

2200-472: The phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future. Yad Vashem's vision, as stated on its website, is: "To lead the documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, and to convey the chronicles of this singular Jewish and human event to every person in Israel, to the Jewish people, and to every significant and relevant audience worldwide." Established in 1953, Yad Vashem

2250-482: The presence of leaders from 40 states and then 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". In April 2019, Yad Vashem started a new collection center to house and conserve millions of artifacts from

2300-402: 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. The Archive is the oldest department of Yad Vashem. Before presenting an exhibition, Yad Vashem collects items. The best known of these are the historical photographs, as well as

2350-399: 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." The new museum was dedicated on 15 March 2005 in

2400-417: 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; collects photos, documents, and personal artifacts; and collects Pages of Testimony memorializing victims of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem seeks to preserve

2450-595: Was chosen because it was far from the Jerusalem city center, and the founders of the memorial site did not want to erect a grim, sorrowful memorial, amidst population concentration. The conceptual connection of "From Holocaust to Rebirth" was made only with hindsight: Only in 2003 the Connecting Path between Yad Vashem and the National Cemetery in Mount Herzl was created and paved. The "Valley of

2500-414: Was the culmination of a $ 100 million decade-long expansion project. In November 2008, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was appointed chairman of Yad Vashem's council, replacing Tommy Lapid . The vice chairman of the council is Moshe Kantor . Yitzhak Arad was vice chairman until his death on May 6, 2021. Elie Wiesel was vice chairman of the council until his death on 2 July 2016. Yitzhak Arad served as

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