What's New

Diplomatic Corps at International Holocaust Remembrance Day Event

Yad Vashem hosted members of the international diplomatic community at an event marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Ambassadors and representatives from over 50 countries attended the event, including France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, the United States, Canada and Russia. "This day of commemoration and the memory of the victims of the Holocaust is fraught with significance," remarked Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We are fulfilling our obligation never to forget and to keep in mind that every victim had a story, a family, a childhood, a future cut short, and as you go through these halls at Yad Vashem you see these individual stories."

Spotlight on the Web

Thousands Join Yad Vashem's Facebook Commemorative Activity

To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem promoted its annual "IRemember Wall" on Facebook. The "IRemember Wall" is a unique and meaningful opportunity for the public to participate in an online commemorative activity. After joining the Wall, one's Facebook profile automatically links to a name of a Holocaust victim from the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, and together they are posted to Yad Vashem's Facebook "IRemember Wall." As one participant said: "This is a great way of keeping the Holocaust victims relevant. They should forever be linked with the living, lest we forget." Additionally, Yad Vashem created a special mini-site containing educational resources, online exhibitions, and a range of social media that were readily available to help people worldwide commemorate the day in a meaningful way.

New Online Exhibition - Last Letters from the Holocaust: 1941

Thousands of personal letters housed in the Yad Vashem Archives are now viewable online, some for the first time, as part of the new online exhibition, "Last Letters From the Holocaust: 1941." The first of its kind in a series of online exhibitions featuring last letters, the exhibition presents nine letters written by children and adults in 1941 and sent to their loved ones during the Holocaust. They were composed in the ghettos and camps, while fleeing, in hiding and while wandering from place to place. They reveal the inner world and terrible fate of individual Jews in the Holocaust; for many recipients, they were also the last messages from their loved ones. The letters presented in the exhibition were sent from Poland, Latvia, France, Austria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Romania. Parting with these precious letters was not easy; nevertheless, survivors and their families ultimately chose to donate them to Yad Vashem where they are documented and preserved for future generations. 

Recent Events

"The Shoah and Jewish Identity": First International Conference for Jewish Educators

In December 2016, over 200 Jewish day school principals, headmasters and senior Jewish Studies educators representing 34 countries and six continents around the world gathered at Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies for a four-day conference, entitled "The Shoah and Jewish Identity: Challenges in Jewish Education." The conference – the largest and most prestigious gathering of worldwide leaders in Jewish education – aimed to present Holocaust education as a compelling, engaging and inspirational topic, which remains relevant to Jewish students in Israel and the Diaspora. Participants were buoyed by the newfound friendships with fellow top-level educators, as well as a wealth of practical ideas to use in their schools.

The Jewish Refugee Problem During the Shoah: Reconsidered

The International Institute for Holocaust Research organized a three-day international conference in late December 2016, entitled "The Jewish Refugee Problem During the Shoah: Reconsidered", to reconsider the topic of Holocaust-era refugees, attended by researchers from Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Austria, the US, Greece, Serbia, Lithuania, the UK and Israel. The conference’s lectures sketched a broad image of waves of refugees that surged during the 1930s and 1940s, in Nazi-occupied areas and in free territories in Europe, North and South America, and the Asian territories of the USSR. Speakers referred to the issues of identity, feelings, and relations between Jewish and non-Jewish refugees on the one hand and between different groups of Jews on the other, and more.

New Publications

Such A Beautiful Sunny Day: Jews Seeking Refuge in the Polish Countryside, 1942-1945

By: Barbara Engelking
This groundbreaking study sheds light on the struggle of the Jews who escaped to the Polish countryside and the threats and challenges they faced. Many of the Jews encountered a hostile environment of local Poles ready to denounce them to the Germans or to participate in manhunts, and in cases where they found refuge with Polish families who took them in, the dangers for both the Jews and their rescuers grew more acute as time passed. Based on a large number of documents, the book tells the untold story of Jewish struggle for survival in a complex landscape of fear, betrayal and death. Available for purchase in Yad Vashem's online store. 

Dancing on a Powder Keg: Letters from 1933-1944, Poems from Theresienstadt

By Ilse Weber
Ilse Weber’s letters document the life of a young Jewish intellectual and known writer, as she and her family were gradually trapped in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. Her poems, written and performed in the Theresienstadt Ghetto, became an international symbol of the camp and ghetto poetry. Ilse and her son Tommy were murdered in Auschwitz. Available for purchase in Yad Vashem's online store. 

News Highlights

Global initiatives virtually commemorate the Holocaust - in a very real way, in The Times of Israel
Last Letters from the Holocaust Displayed in Yad Vashem Project, in The Jerusalem Post
Pendant Found in Nazi Death Camp Ruins May Have Anne Frank Link, in The New York Times
Anne Frank Link Possibly Unearthed at Nazi Death Camp, in CBS/AP
Cousins Torn Apart by the Holocaust Meet for the First Time at Yad Vashem, in The Algemeiner
Yad Vashem marks Hanukkah with menorahs salvaged from the Holocaust, in The Times of Israel
Aleppo: Yad Vashem Chairman Says Global Community Must Stop Killings in Syria, in Haaretz

With Your Support

In today’s post-truth world, when facts matter very little in shaping opinions, the history of the Holocaust hangs in a delicate balance. It is Yad Vashem’s mission to safeguard the accurate history and personal stories and legacies of victims and survivors of the Shoah. When Deborah Lipstadt won her case in court, there was hope that the facts of the Holocaust would remain undisputable, undeniable and undebatable. Yet, current events illustrate the urgent need to continue the battle against Holocaust denial. By recording survivor testimonies; collecting art, artifacts and documents; recognizing Righteous individuals who saved Jewish lives; digitizing archives and making them accessible to the public; publishing groundbreaking research; educating students and teachers of all ages and backgrounds, Yad Vashem furthers its mission each day. Join us in this vital mission to protect the truth and Donate Now.