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The Yad Vashem collections form the world's most extensive archival repository on the subject of the Holocaust. At a time when the survivor generation is dwindling, Yad Vashem seeks to keep the memory of the Shoah alive by giving voice to the many and varied items in its collections. There is a story behind every photograph, every work of art, every letter, every object: the story of an individual, a family, a community. We invite you to explore Yad Vashem's collections and discover the wealth of personal stories they tell.
Duet in the Vilna Ghetto: Yehiel and Zlata Burgin
Yehiel Burgin was born in 1914 in New Wilejka, close to Vilna, to Nehemia and Hinda-Feiga (née Falkovich). Nehemia was a tailor by profession, and the family was traditional, with a leaning towards socialist ideas. When Yehiel was...
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Architecture of Murder. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints
The Auschwitz complex was not built overnight. This was a major construction project that lasted years and was never completed. A number of organizations and companies were involved in the building process, as well as thousands...
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Studying Arabic in Theresienstadt
Dr. Mojzis Woskin-Nahartabi was born on 16 December 1884 in Russia. He was a Zionist, who had visited Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine). On 10 February 1923, he established a Hebrew school in Leipzig. Nahartabi was...
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Hannah Szenes: Zionist, Paratrooper and Poet
"On the morning of 17 June 1944, a man in civilian garb knocked on the door… He had a warrant for my arrest… They interrogated me... They asked about the children, especially about Hannah. The investigator asked...
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Escaping Deportation from Rivesaltes: the Story of the Krieser Sisters
When the bombing of Belgium began in 1940, Perla and Solomon Krieser of Antwerp and their two daughters, 16-year-old Hilda and 12-year-old Hannah fled across the border to France. They were caught together with many other refugees,...
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Yechiel's Struggle Group in the Vilna Ghetto
Yechiel (Ilya) Scheinboim was born in 1914 in Odessa, Ukraine. He was brought up by his grandmother in Kowel, Poland (today Ukraine), following the death of his mother. He studied at the Tarbut school and joined the Hechalutz...
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Pierre Wolkowicz's Violin and Last Letter
Pierre Wolkowicz lived with his mother, Berthe and his father, Max in Paris, France. During the infamous Vel d'Hiv round-up of 16-17 July 1942, Max was summarily taken to the concentration camps of Pithiviers...
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Aerial Photographs of Auschwitz
Aerial photographs of Auschwitz taken by the Allied Air Forces during World War II were first exposed in 1978 by Dino Brugioni and Robert Poirer, two aerial photo-analysts who worked for the CIA. Using historical research material,...
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Shabtai Bleicher, a Theater Actor in the Vilna Ghetto, 1906-1944
Shabtai Bleicher, an actor in the State Yiddish Theater in Vilna in 1940-41, was one of the initiators of the ghetto theater and a prominent actor there. As part of the activities instigated by the Judenrat in the ghetto, Bleicher...
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Toy Boat from Pithiviers
At the height of World War II, ten-year-old Jean Pojzman received an unusual gift – a toy boat, inscribed with the words "Jeannot, Pithiviers 1941 1942".
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Rare Color Footage Depicting Jewish Life in the Shtetl before the Holocaust
David Teitelbaum, from the town of Wielopole in south-eastern Poland, was an amateur photographer. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and became a successful businessman. On a visit to his hometown on...
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The Pitel Family
Twenty-six members of the Pitel family of Parczev, Poland, gathered for a photo in 1938. Yerachmiel Yosef (Josef) Pitel moved to Israel shortly after this photo was taken. In 1943 the entire family was murdered in Treblinka. Yerachmiel...
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Brooch in the shape of a puppy that Anna Nussbaum received as a parting gift from her father
"One day they packed me a small suitcase with a cardboard name-tag; only one change of clothing was permitted."Anna was born in Vienna in 1929 to Rebeka and Oskar Nussbaum, a younger sister for Klara.The Kristallnacht pogrom...
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Aerial Evidence for Schindler’s List
Oskar Schindler’s deeds during the Holocaust period have received considerable coverage, mainly since the release of the film “Schindler’s List” in 1993. There is much original documentation about...
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Meine Liebe Frau Pels
A black box with dozens of letters – folded, crammed together, sent from a variety of places, pages written in a cramped fashion, some with envelopes and others without. Some letters are handwritten, others are typed,...
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Child Survivors at the Liberation of Auschwitz – 27 January 1945
On 27 January 2005, 60 years after they were photographed by their liberators, the six survivors living in Israel took part in a ceremony in Poland marking 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.
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German Police Activity in Olkusz, 31/7/1940
One of the photograph collections from the Holocaust period that has aroused great curiosity is the series of pictures depicting German policemen and Jews in the Polish town of Olkusz. The best-known photograph in the series is also...
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Album of Passport Photographs of Slovak Jews
One of the ways the Fascist Slovak regime reinforced the Jews' inferior status was the revocation of their State identification papers. In their stead, the "Jewish Center" (UZ) in Bratislava was ordered to issue its own...
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Prewar Hanukkah Menorah owned by the Posner family in Kiel, Germany
During Hanukkah 1931, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, took this photo of the family Hanukkah menorah from the window ledge of the family home looking out on to the building across the road decorated with Nazi flags.On...
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