What's New

Thousands Attend Online Course

Over 23,000 participants registered for Yad Vashem's newly created online academic course on the Holocaust. Part 1 of the free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), "The Holocaust: An Introduction," was launched November 2, 2015 on the UK-based FutureLearn platform and part 2 will begin on November 30, 2015. In January 2015, the course will be offered on the US-based Coursera platform. Developed by Yad Vashem's International School and International Research Institute in conjunction with Tel Aviv University, the course offers an overview of the Holocaust, while delving into the central subjects of Holocaust research. The archival material that accompanies the course – and represents an integral part of it – was provided by the Yad Vashem Archives. This online learning opportunity provides participants with access to Yad Vashem's unparalleled resources, as well as a gateway to the latest knowledge and research on the Holocaust. The course was ranked as one of the top 10 most popular courses in November by the "MOOC tracker" Class Central.

Spotlight on the Web

Hanukkah - Before, During and After the Holocaust

An expanded and redesigned online exhibition featuring cards and artifacts related to the upcoming holiday of Hanukkah has been uploaded to Yad Vashem's website. Photographs, artifacts and personal testimony highlight some of the ways this holiday was observed throughout Europe prior to the Holocaust, during the Holocaust years, and in the displaced persons camps and children’s homes following the war. The moving exhibition was designed in a new responsive format that is easily accessible from mobile devices.

Auschwitz Album Online Exhibition

The Auschwitz Album, consistently one of the most popular online exhibitions on the www.yadvashem.org, has been expanded and redesigned with a new look and feel, thus providing a more meaningful user experience. The Album, the original of which has been preserved and is housed in Yad Vashem's Archive, is the only surviving visual evidence of the process leading to the mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The photographs were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944 and  depict the entire processes, except for the killing itself.

Recent Events

History Meets Innovation

In October, Yad Vashem and HP Enterprises held a Hackathon in order to leverage HP's big data analytics to explore Yad Vashem's vast collection of more than 125,000 written, audio and video testimonies and present them in new and compelling ways for future generations.  The Hackathon participants teamed up to spend two intensive weeks developing creative solutions. Out of some 200 applicants, 17 teams were chosen to present their ideas to an esteemed panel of judges. The teams analyzed thousands of hours of audio and video content, as well as text and images to identify methods of presenting the information in a modern, accessible, social media-friendly manner.  The event was part of Yad Vashem's ongoing efforts to engage with younger generations to harness the language of technology in order to continue to piece together the stories of the Shoah and make them accessible to everyone.

American Society Dinner Highlights Liberation

The American Society for Yad Vashem (ASYV) hosted their Annual Tribute Dinner in New York on Sunday, November 15th, Commemorating 70 Years Since Liberation, chaired by Mark Moskowitz. The Dinner shed light on the theme of Liberation and the Return to Life after the Holocaust, paying tribute to the victims and Survivors. The ASYV honored Rose and Philip Friedman (pictured), longtime Yad Vashem supporters and accomplished figures in business and philanthropy. In addition, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation along with the Steinberg Family were also recognized.  Wolf Blitzer, CNN's lead political anchor and Middle East reporting expert, was the night's featured speaker. The program also included Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter and Mary Jean Eisenhower. With some 500 guests in attendance, the dinner was a great success. 

New Publications

My Nitra

A Family's Struggle to Survive in Slovakia

by Hani Kedar-Kehat
Hani (Helenka) Kraus was five years old when Slovakia became a satellite of Nazi Germany and eleven when it was liberated by the Red Army. In her memoirs, she describes the family’s escape from the Nazis and the Guardsmen of the Slovakian Fascist regime, and their miraculous survival in hiding thanks to the assistance of their Slovak rescuers. When Hani, her brother Benjamin and their parents returned to Nitra, they learned that most of the members of the once-thriving community had been murdered. Hani’s account is the story of a family that, under the threat of persecution and murder, formed an inseparable bond. It is also a testament to the good deeds of their Slovak rescuers who risked their own families’ lives to help a family they barely knew. My Nitra is available for purchase in Yad Vashem's online store.

Yad Vashem Studies 43:1 (2015)

edited by David Silberklang
Four articles in Yad Vashem Studies, volume 43, no. 1, analyze aspects of the key issue of human behavior during the Holocaust – Guy Miron (the impact of waiting on German Jewry); Anna Hájková (Dutch and German Jews from Holland in Theresienstadt); Jan Grabowski (“bystanders” in Eastern Europe); and Sara Bender (Jews in the shtetl Staszów). Other subjects examined include: the development of Yad Vashem’s synagogue (Doron Bar); and reviews of new research on France (Shannon Fogg on Daniel Lee), Poland (Jacek Leociak on Rachel Feldhay Brenner), the first weeks of mass murder in the USSR (Jeffrey Kopstein on Witold Mędykowski), and Romania (Mariana Hausleitner and Ronit Fisher, each on two books). The issue is dedicated to the memory of Martin Gilbert, Ze’ev Mankowitz, and Feliks Tych, with articles on them by Bernard Wasserstein, Gideon Shimoni, and Eleonora Bergman and Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska respectively. The book is available in the Yad Vashem online store.

News Highlights

Living Word From a Dead World, on Tablet
Getting Millennials to Talk About the Holocaust, on Haaretz.com
The Remarkable David Cesarani: In Memorium, in The Times of Israel
Tour of the Galleries of Yad Vashem: Hard-hitting Archives Make the Holocaust Almost Tangible, in the Economic Times
Businessman who Rescued the last Jews of Aleppo was Inspired by Yad Vashem, in The Jewish Chronicle

Magazine

The Fall issue of Yad Vashem Jerusalem is now available online. Articles include "Life after Liberation" examining life in the DP Camps in Europe," and "When the Gates Opened," an overview of the biennial Educators' Conference for Israeli teachers as they examine the effects of the Shoah on individuals and society. A review of recent educational initiatives includes the development of a new program to tackle contemporary antisemitism and Holocaust denial and distortion as well as new ties and agreements with educators from Germany and Italy. Also included are book reviews and an overview of the summer workshop for scholars "'Non-Jewish Jews' during the Holocaust" of Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research.

With Your Support

Pay Tribute to the Righteous Among the Nations

Anton Schmid, an Austrian military supervisor, was well-known in Vilna for his brave actions aiding and rescuing many persecuted Jews. On New Year's Eve, 1941, he hosted the leadership of the Dror Jewish underground in his apartment in Vilna while German officers celebrated on the first floor. Throughout the evening he sat and spoke freely with them, leaving from time to time so that his absence from the officers' club upstairs would remain unnoticed. At one point, he raised his glass and made a toast that the Pioneers would see their dreams come true. The Jews declared that when the Jewish State would come into being after the war, he would receive the golden Magen David (Star of David) award for helping the Jews. He responded, "I will wear it with the greatest possible pride." Executed in April 1942, this promise was fulfilled over twenty years later when Yad Vashem bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations upon Anton Schmid.
Yad Vashem continues to pay tribute to the many heroic Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. To learn more about supporting this important initiative, please contact the International Relations Division.