Marisa Fine

A Symbol of Light for a Lost Community

A menorah, a special candleholder for nine candles, is lit during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah – also known as the “the festival of lights” – as a reminder of the miraculous defeat of the tiny indigenous Jewish nation over their mighty Greek occupiers in 160 BCE. On entering the holy Temple, the victorious Jewish Maccabee army only found enough pure olive oil to light the sacred menorah for one night; however, the oil lasted a miraculous eight days, hence the eight-day celebration of... Continue reading

Pius XII and the Holocaust – What Can We Learn From the Vatican Archives?

How can we understand the responses of the Vatican to the persecution and murder of the Jews during WWII? Should we consider them as a guilty silence and a moral failure, or rather a strategic policy – aimed at rescuing Jews? These are just some of the questions analyzed in the most recent presentation in Yad Vashem's ongoing online lecture series – one of the ways Yad Vashem has endeavored to stay connected with its interested public worldwide during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. The... Continue reading

Marking 75 Years since Liberation: A Shavuot to Remember

A striking black and white photograph of the 1945 Shavuot prayer service in the liberated Buchenwald camp in Germany hangs in Yad Vashem’s Holocaust History Museum. One of the youngest survivors in the picture is Israel Meir "Lulek" Lau, who was just eight years old when Buchenwald was liberated by the Allied Forces. Leading the service was a young Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Herschel Schacter, who was amongst the camp’s liberators. Afterwards, Rabbi Schacter stayed in the camp to aid with the... Continue reading

"A Space for Reflection and Commemoration"

"It is vital to learn about the lives of individual people before the war, not just as victims of the Holocaust. We must understand how to deal with diversity and complexities in society. I came here to find new and effective tools for teaching today's youth about the Holocaust and its relevance for their own lives." So said Martina, one of a dozen teachers who traveled last month to Yad Vashem, for a first-ever seminar for educators from Berlin. The seminar followed the signing of an... Continue reading

Expanding Holocaust Remembrance to the Chinese Public

Over the years, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev has emphasized the importance of effective Holocaust education. In 1993, Shalev established the International School for Holocaust Studies and positioned it to become the foremost global educational entity promoting Holocaust education around the world. In 2018, the International School has hosted over 60 international educator seminars for over 1,000 teachers aimed at providing tools and skills to deal with this sensitive topic and has forged... Continue reading

Rescued Twice by a "Very Kind Man"

"Be humane, have respect for others and help if you can." This is the legacy that Arthur Schmidt learned from his grandfather, Arthur Schmidt (Sr.), who, together with his wife Paula, courageously risked his life to save Jewish children during the Holocaust.   This month, the Schmidt family journeyed from Germany to Israel in order to attend the moving recognition ceremony at Yad Vashem posthumously honoring the late Arthur and Paula Schmidt as Righteous Among the Nations. Irena Steinfeldt,... Continue reading

The Roma Girl and the Romanian Soldier

The Jewish holiday of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar (around February/March). The holiday celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people during the time of Ancient Persia from the evil Haman who plotted to murder all of the Jews, according to the Biblical Book of Esther. The holiday is celebrated by reading the Book of Esther, which recounts the miracle of Purim, giving small gifts of food to one's neighbors (mishloah manot), donating to the poor and... Continue reading

"Moon Landscape" Goes to Space Again

The emotions and excitement at Israel Space Week yesterday were palpable. Meeting with Rona Ramon, widow of Israeli Astronaut Ilan Ramon z"l, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev remarked: "Today we come full circle." Shalev had just presented Rona with a copy of "Moon Landscape," the now famous drawing of 14-year-old Holocaust victim Petr Ginz, which Ilan brought to public awareness when he took a copy with him on his doomed space flight in 2003. As the son and grandson of Auschwitz survivors,... Continue reading

A Piano from a Destroyed World: How the Margulies family and their piano escaped from Nazi Germany

When the Holocaust History Museum was being planned in the early 2000s, the curators decided to set aside a space to replicate a typical living room in the home of a Jewish German family from before the war. "Yad Vashem uses artifacts displayed throughout its Museums Complex to tell individual stories of Jews from Europe – ordinary people like you or me – whose lives were devastated and changed forever by the Holocaust," explains Michael Tal, Director of the Artifacts Department in Yad... Continue reading

Commemorating a Bar Mitzvah at the age of 89

A bar mitzvah is a rite of passage that every Jewish boy experiences at the age of 13, as they enter into adulthood. It is a special and significant experience that many Jewish children were unable to enjoy in Nazi-occupied Europe as the Germans forbade any practice of religion. Henry Oster was one of these unfortunate children who was unable to celebrate his bar mitzvah on time. Born in Cologne, Germany, on 5 November 1928, Henry grew up in a middle-class Jewish German household. His father,... Continue reading