Germany Signs Agreement Supporting the Construction of the new Collections Center in the Moshal Legacy Campus

26 November 2020

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev: "Today we are taking a step forward on the road of building this center, in order to preserve this important history for generations to come."

Yad Vashem / Isaac Harari

German Ambassador to Israel H.E. Dr. Susanne Wasum-Rainer: "To commemorate the persecution of the Jews under the German Nazi regime has become a priority of German governments as well as an overwhelming majority of German society."

Yad Vashem / Isaac Harari

Ambassador Michaela Küchler, Chairperson of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA): "The [Moshal] Shoah Legacy Campus will serve as a shelter for art, artifacts, last letters, diaries... and other testimonies of the lives of Jews [during

Yad Vashem / Isaac Harari

Chairman of the German Society for Yad Vashem Kai Diekmann: "The biggest crime in history, the murder of six million Jews, was committed by Germans, by Germany. Therefore, for all times in history, it is our responsibility to make sure: 'Never Again!'"

Yad Vashem / Isaac Harari

German Ambassador to Israel H.E. Dr. Susanne Wasum-Rainer and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev sign an agreement facilitating the support of the German government in the new Collections Center part of the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus.

Yad Vashem / Isaac Harari

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev and German Ambassador to Israel H.E. Dr. Susanne Wasum-Rainer signed an agreement today at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, whereby the Federal Republic of Germany will contribute to the establishment of the new Collections Center, the major component of the new Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus currently under construction on the Mount of Remembrance. The Collections Center will comprise four underground floors housing Yad Vashem’s unrivalled collections of Holocaust-era archival materials, artifacts and artworks, conservation laboratories and a visitors' gallery, where some of these treasured items will be on display.

Yad Vashem experts foresee that the beneficial impact the new Center will have on Holocaust remembrance will be felt for generations to come. Yad Vashem works tirelessly to safeguard these irreplaceable historic remnants, which bear witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust and what may happen if racism is left unchecked, and thus enhance the struggle against antisemitism and xenophobia worldwide.

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev states

"Each fragment from the Holocaust tells its own story. Through these objects and documents, we are able to piece together the intricate tapestry of Jewish life in Europe and North Africa, and the unspeakable horrors that befell the Jewish nation during the Holocaust. The new Collections Center will provide a state-of-the-art facility for this important work, and serve as a home for the thousands of items entrusted to Yad Vashem for preservation and eternal safekeeping. We greatly appreciate the continued cooperation and professional relationship we share with the German government, and its willingness to support this essential initiative. Additionally, we thank the Chairman of the German Society for Yad Vashem Kai Diekmann for his role in the process of securing this contribution and other financial support from Germany. "

Ambassador Wasum-Rainer remarks:

“All the personal objects Yad Vashem has collected since its establishment are now treasures that tell the stories of survivors of the Shoah and of those who were murdered during the Shoah. It is of great importance to preserve those memories and to make them available to the public so they can help future generations to understand and to commemorate. Never again!"

The new Collections Center is scheduled to be completed in 2022.