What's New

Highlights of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2016

The central ceremony marking Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day was held at Yad Vashem on May 4, 2016 in the presence of the President of the State of Israel, the Prime Minister, dignitaries, survivors and their families. A comprehensive mini-site was launched on the Yad Vashem website including photo galleries, videos of the torchlighters, educational materials, related online exhibitions and information about this year's theme: "The Struggle to Maintain the Human Spirit during the Holocaust." Commemorative ceremonies took place on the Mount of Remembrance throughout the following day, including the wreath-laying ceremony and the recitation of Holocaust victims' names in the Hall of Remembrance. The International School for Holocaust Studies ran educational activities for youth, and in the afternoon, Holocaust survivors and hundreds of young people took part in the ceremony for youth movements. For the second year in a row, visitors to the Mount of Remembrance went "Behind-the-Scenes," gaining a greater understanding of the everyday undertakings of Yad Vashem. At a number of stations throughout the campus, Yad Vashem experts presented their work in the educational, technological and commemorative fields, including artworks, artifacts and documents from the Yad Vashem Collections not usually on public display.

Ready2print Exhibitions

Ready2print is a new, innovative, and unique exhibitions concept that provides access to Yad Vashem's vast collections. Ready2print exhibitions are curated as high resolution, graphic digital files, along with technical printing instructions, which allows for independent production with the option for the incorporation of an organizations logo into the opening panel. The ready2print exhibitions are accompanied by age-appropriate educational materials (free of charge) and are ideal for display in schools, churches, universities, municipalities, libraries, and community centers across the world. For further information about ready2print exhibitions please contact: traveling.exhibitions@yadvashem.org.il

Spotlight on the Web

Children's Homes in France During the Holocaust – New online exhibition

Visit a new online exhibition that tells the story of three children's homes: the home in Chamonix, the home in Izieu, and the home in Chabannes. This is a story of courage and determination, a story of sacrifice, loyalty and dedication. One of the unique phenomena of the Holocaust period was the rescue of Jewish children in France: a network of protective homes  established by different organizations, both Jewish and Christian, whose members rescued children and brought them to remote places, in order to protect them from persecution and enable them to live a normal life under abnormal circumstances.  Thanks to this rescue endeavor, thousands of Jewish children were saved.  There were children's homes throughout occupied France, but mainly in the South of France. Some were near the borders with Spain and Switzerland.  Many of the rescuers tried to take Jewish children and even babies out of detention camps and other dangerous areas in France to safety in children's homes.  From these homes, many Jewish children were eventually smuggled out of France.

Recent Events

Inauguration of the Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union

On May 9 2016, the Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union was inaugurated, under the auspices of the International Institute for Holocaust Research. Following the opening of major and local archives in the Former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, multi-disciplinary research into the wartime fate of the Jews in the USSR began to flourish. With the generous support of the Genesis Philanthropy Group, the European Jewish Fund and other donors, for the past several years Yad Vashem has invested efforts into researching the history of the Jews living in the Soviet Union before, during and after the Holocaust. The Mirilashvili Center is set to consolidate and augment these endeavors of Yad Vashem and lead groundbreaking global academic discourse in this field, strengthening ties with relevant researchers and organizations, encouraging international scholarly cooperation and advancing pioneering research in all related areas for many years to come.

Names Recovery

Help Recover Names of Holocaust Victims

Share this video to help Yad Vashem recover the missing names and lost identities of the victims of the Shoah. To date the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names records the names of 4.6 million Jewish Holocaust victims. Since its inception Yad Vashem has worked together with survivors, their families and communities to collect and commemorate the names of men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Submit the names of Holocaust victims you know of to ensure that they will be remembered for generations to come. For more information about the Shoah Victims' Names Recovery Project, please contact: names.proj@yadvashem.org.il  

New Publications

The Holocaust in the Crimea and the North Caucasus

by Kiril Feferman
This study presents a comprehensive account of the Jews in the Crimea and the North Caucasus in the Holocaust years. The book covers the life and destruction of the Jewish population, and describes the relations between Jews and non-Jews before and during the war; the evacuation of the Jews; the German occupation and the destruction of the Jewish population; the fate of non-Ashkenazi Jews; Jewish responses; and reactions of local populations. The Holocaust in the Crimea and the North Caucasus is available for purchase in the Yad Vashem online store.

Pariahs Among Pariahs: Soviet-Jewish POWs in German Captivity, 1941–1945

by Aron Shneyer
More than 6 million soldiers became POWs in camps operated by Nazi Germany. Western Allies were mostly treated in accordance to the international treaties, while members of the Polish Army and the Red Army were exposed to cruelty, slave labor and murder. Amongst them, the Jewish prisoners suffered the most. This book details the complexity of one of the most brutal chapters of the Holocaust period. Pariahs Among Pariahs: Soviet-Jewish POWs in German Captivity, 1941–1945 is available for purchase in the Yad Vashem online store.

News Highlights

Mapping the Holocaust: How Jews Were Taken to Their Final Destinations, in the New York Times
Films play special role in remembering Holocaust, in the Associated Press
The Establishment of the Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, in the Jerusalem Post
Tracing Survivors and Victims of the Holocaust , in the Canadian Jewish News
Red Army Jews in pre-war Soviet Union, in the Jerusalem Post
‘To Salvage The Stories Of The Rescued’, in the Jewish Week
Snatched from Oblivion, in the Jerusalem Report

With Your Support

Educating Future Generations

Photographs, stories and personal memories are all part of Yad Vashem's educational tools for teaching about the Jewish individuals and communities before, during and after the Holocaust. Your help allows us to continue educating future generations towards a better tomorrow.