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What’s New |
Architecture of Murder:
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints |
Anonymous No Longer
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A new exhibition, marking International
Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 65th anniversary of the liberation
of Auschwitz,
opened at Yad Vashem on January 25,
2010 in the presence of the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin
Netanyahu and diplomats of some 80 countries. Displayed alongside the
original
architectural sketches of Auschwitz
are an aerial photo of the massive complex, the Vrba-Wetzler Report,
written by two Jewish escapees from Auschwitz in 1944, an album
displaying pictures of the camp’s construction and quotes from SS men
and Jewish inmates describing the site and its murderous purposes.
The exhibition will be on display in the Exhibitions Pavilion through
February 28, 2010, after which parts of the exhibition will be
displayed in the foyer of the Archives and Library Building at Yad
Vashem. A traveling version of the exhibition opened at the UN
Headquarters in New York on January 26, 2010. |
In creating the permanent exhibition for
the new Holocaust History Museum, one of the many elements Yad Vashem
sought to introduce was the emphasis on the fate of the individual
during the Holocaust. Identifying the men, women and children who
appear in the photographic display restores names and identities to
unknown faces, thereby rescuing them from anonymity. Since the new
Museum was inaugurated in 2005, survivors and individuals have come
forward and identified themselves, their relatives and acquaintances
in the photographs on display.
“Anonymous No Longer” presents the names of those who have been
identified since the opening of the new Museum in 2005. |
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Spotlight on the Web |
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A record breaking 10 million visits to www.yadvashem.org
were recorded during 2009, a 25% increase over the previous year. |
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New Online Exhibition |
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A new online exhibition highlights music
that was created in the ghettos, camps and partisan groups.
“Heartstrings, Music of the Holocaust” is a testimony to the power
of that music which served many different purposes – as a source of
comfort; as a form of resistance, as relief and entertainment and even
as criticism of local Jewish leaders. The exhibition includes a very
interesting section about the conductor and composer Shmerke
Kaczerginski. While in the Vilna ghetto he wrote songs to console his
fellow inhabitants; directed theater productions and literary
evenings; and later was actively involved in partisan activities.
During the war, while in the forest, he already began documenting the
stories and songs that he had written and heard. After the war he
continued this work becoming an expert in the area and recording 60
songs sung by Holocaust survivors. The songs in this exhibition are
part of those recordings, which are now preserved in the Yad Vashem
Archives. |
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Names Recovery |
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Commemoration Efforts
Provide Psychological Relief to Survivors |
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Visit our new "Feedback" link highlighting reactions
and insights from people implementing the Shoah Victims’ Names
Recovery Project. Included are descriptions of how Pages of Testimony
can be used as a therapeutic tool to help survivors memorialize their
relatives and friends that perished by enabling them to externalize
their pain and helping to provide them with peace of mind. Each Page
of Testimony documents the name of a formerly anonymous victim and
fulfills survivors’ responsibility to bear witness.
To learn more about the project or to launch a Names Recovery Campaign
in your area please contact
names.outreach@yadvashem.org.il
For
more information about the Shoah Victims’ Names Recovery Project,
please contact:
names.outreach@yadvashem.org.il |
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Recent Events |
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Inaugural Gandel Holocaust
Studies Program for Australian Educators Opens |
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A group of
Australian educators were recently at the International School for
Holocaust Studies to attend the inaugural seminar of the
Gandel Holocaust
Studies Program for Australian educators. While at Yad Vashem, the group
had an opportunity to meet with top experts in the fields of Holocaust
education and research and take part in discussions of the history of the
Holocaust, lectures and presentations on effective Holocaust education.
The program, established by the Gandel family of Melbourne, is a long-term
professional development project designed to provide vital expert training
to Australian educators who are active in Holocaust instruction throughout
Australia.
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With Your Support... |
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Virtues of Memory – Six
Decades of Survivors’ Creativity
Giving
verbal expression to the horrors of the Holocaust is extremely difficult
and some survivors have found an alternative “voice” through art. Since
its inception, Yad Vashem has received paintings from survivors that have
become part of its Art Collection. Yad Vashem will provide a platform for
these survivors, making their voices heard, in an upcoming exhibition
”Virtues of Memory – Six Decades of Survivors’ Creativity”. The
exhibition, scheduled to open in April 2010 on Holocaust Martyrs’ and
Heroes’ Remembrance Day, will exhibit around 300 works of art. Never
before has such extensive research on this subject been conducted and
presented in an exhibition.
A catalogue
featuring all the participating artists, their biographies and images of
their art, will accompany the
exhibition. Yad Vashem is urgently in need of your support to enable us to
present the artists or their families with a copy of this catalogue as a
lasting tribute to their artistic testimony. To support this important project, please
contact the
International Relations department.
Yad Vashem’s activities and programs would not be possible without the
support of our many donors and friends. In these difficult days, when
pursuing the important mission of commemoration of the Holocaust has never
been more necessary, Yad Vashem more than ever needs you to join us in our
efforts to transform commemoration into a lasting commitment to the Jewish
people, to moral values and to responsible action. Yad Vashem welcomes the
ongoing partnership and visits from its friends and supporters: |
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To Join Yad Vashem’s Circle of Friends, please
click here
You can now make a Tribute Gift in Memory of someone or in Honor of
a special occasion or event.
Visit our newly updated website at
www.yadvashem.org
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Yad Vashem Quarterly Magazine |
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The Winter edition of the magazine
Yad Vashem Jerusalem
is now online. Learn more about the International Institute
for Holocaust Research and read about the New Encyclopedia of the Ghettos,
the first comprehensive reference book of its kind. Meet Holocaust
educators on “Graduate Spotlight” which highlights a recent participant
in one of the International School for Holocaust Studies educational
programs. An article reviewing differing perspectives by historians in the
newest volume of Yad Vashem studies is a fascinating look at how multiple
perspectives enrich our understanding of complex issues. |
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Copyright © 2010 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority
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