 |
|
Newsletter No. 12, June 2009 |
|
|
|
What’s New
|
Spotlight on the Web
|
Names Recovery |
Recent Events |
With Your Support |
Support Us |
|
Dear Friend,
While we are just at the beginning of the summer, Yad Vashem has
already hosted an exceptional cultural event, received numerous new
documents and photos to the Yad Vashem Archives and launched a new
educational program. We invite you to take a glimpse at some of our
most recent activities. |
|
|
What’s New |
|
Special Concert at Yad
Vashem |
Innovative Program Targets
Russian Speakers |
|
In a special and moving event at Yad
Vashem, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Maestro John
Axelrod, performed Leonard
Bernstein’s “Kaddish - Symphony No. 3” with a libretto, “A Dialogue
with God” written and narrated by Holocaust survivor Dr. Samuel Pisar.
The outdoor
concert was performed in the presence of President Shimon
Peres and with the participation of hundreds of Holocaust survivors.
The extraordinary event was sponsored by Mrs. Lily Safra, President of
the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation and held in partnership
with the Organization of Holocaust Survivors in Israel. This
monumental symphony has been performed to international acclaim around
the world. |
Yad Vashem recently launched a
comprehensive
new program aimed at raising awareness and deepening
knowledge of the Holocaust among Russian speakers. The initiative,
made possible by a four-year, $4 million grant from the Genesis
Philanthropy Group (GPG), will promote inter-disciplinary projects in
formal and informal education, research and publications, archival
documentation, Internet outreach, exhibitions, and Righteous Among the
Nations from the areas of the Former Soviet Union. As part of the
project, each year, two Israeli cities will be the focus of the
program. Through seminars for educators and students, activities in
community centers, and working with Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans, Holocaust education will be intensified throughout the
community. |
|
|
|
Spotlight on the Web |
|
Auschwitz Album- Now a
Multimedia Exhibition in 4 Languages |
|
The Auschwitz Album is now part of a
multimedia exhibition in four
different languages: English, Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic. The only
surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at
Auschwitz-Birkenau, this unique document was donated to Yad Vashem by
Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier. The photos were taken at the end of May
or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard
Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints
of the inmates. The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from
Carpatho-Ruthenia. Though the purpose of the album is unclear, it was
most likely prepared as an official reference for a higher authority,
as were photo albums from other concentration camps. |
|
|
Names Recovery |
|
Shoah Victims' Names
Recovery Facts and Figures for 2008 |
|
The
Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names has been enlarged and now
contains close to 3.6 million names of Holocaust victims, all of which
are accessible online. The Names Database now contains over 2.15
million Pages of Testimony, about two-thirds of the total number of
names in the Database. Tens of thousands of Pages of Testimony were
gathered as a result of intensive activity of the Names Recovery
campaign in the Russian-speaking sector.
Over 600,000 name occurrences of victims and survivors from archival
lists and other documentation were digitized, among them archival
documents gathered in Hungary, the former Soviet Union and other
areas. For more information regarding the Shoah Victims’ Names
Recovery Project please contact us:
names.outreach@yadvashem.org.il
To find out how to launch a Shoah Victims’ Names Recovery Campaign in
your area please access our online
Community Outreach Guide. |
|
|
Recent Events |
|
New ITS Documents Add
Information to Yad Vashem Archives |
Survivor Donates Holocaust
Artifacts |
|
The
ITS (International Tracing Service) recently presented Yad Vashem
with some 180,000 “CM1” (care and maintenance) questionnaires from
German DP camps. The documents provide information on the fate of Jews
and non-Jews who survived the concentration camps, forced labor and,
in some cases, war captivity. Yad Vashem also received copies of lists
of Holocaust survivors, compiled after WWII mostly by Jewish
organizations from different countries. The 55,000 documents helped
the Tracing Service clarify individual fates and reunite families. The
remaining documents from DP camps in other European countries as well
as emigration lists will follow at the end of the year, once
digitization of that part of the ITS collection at Bad Arolsen,
Germany has been completed. |
Holocaust survivor Meyer Hack recently
donated personal items of
victims of Auschwitz to Yad Vashem. Forced to work as a slave laborer
in Auschwitz, in the “clothing chamber” that received clothing after
its initial sorting in the “Kanada” storerooms, Hack had to mark the
clothes with a red X, and redistribute them as prisoner clothing.
Occasionally, he found belongings that the deportees had hidden in the
lining of their clothing. Hack managed to keeps some items with him
through liberation, and for more than 60 years, kept his story quiet.
He has now presented the items for eternal safekeeping to Yad Vashem’s
artifacts collection. |
|
|
|
|
|
With Your Support... |
|
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.
New At Yad Vashem – Online
Tribute And Memorial Gifts
Yad Vashem’s
website now offers visitors and
supporters the opportunity to make a meaningful gift in memory or in honor
of someone special. Such a gift, from $25 and upwards, is ideal to send to
a friend or a family member who is marking a special occasion, who has
been moved by a visit to the Museum, or to someone for whom the
preservation of the memory of the Holocaust remains of paramount
importance. Gifts can also be made in an individual’s blessed memory.
Yad Vashem sends all honorees (or their family, if they are deceased) a
unique certificate to acknowledge the kind contribution made in their
name. The giving of these gifts can only help to ensure the continuation
of Yad Vashem’s vital activities.
To make a Tribute or Memorial Gift, please
click here.
Belgian Holocaust Victim
Carol Deutsch’s Limited Edition Artwork - now available as part of a
special campaign for Yad Vashem Supporters
 |
In war-torn Antwerp of 1941, self-taught
artist Carol Deutsch lovingly crafted a gift for his daughter Ingrid’s
second birthday, an opus comprised of ninety-nine gouache paintings
depicting Biblical narratives and protagonists. The
collection donated to
and displayed at Yad Vashem’s Museum of Holocaust Art, exhibits
exceptional vitality and constitutes a stalwart expression of defiance to
everything for which the Nazis stood.
Honoring the memory of Deutsch, who was murdered in Buchenwald in 1944,
Yad Vashem is now launching a special campaign, offering our supporters
the opportunity to own a limited edition replica of this beautiful
collectors item for a donation of $10,000. All support generated by this
campaign will go towards Yad Vashem’s efforts to educate against
Antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Please contact the
International
Relations department for more information.
Yad Vashem welcomes the ongoing
partnership and visits from its friends and supporters:
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Copyright © 2009 Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority
|
