Fifty years’ evolution at Yad Vashem

How does a people assimilate the most radical genocide in modern history into its collective memory? How can an event that defies imagination and language be analysed, recorded, taught and remembered? In the aftermath of the Holocaust the need was urgent, the shock and trauma enormous, fresh and raw. These questions challenged Jewish leaders around the world even during the terrible reality of the Holocaust. It became clear that such an institution would have to address the enormity of the event while preserving the individual humanity of its victims. Since its inception in Jerusalem in 1953, Yad Vashem (literally ‘The Hand of God’) has evolved into the world’s leading Holocaust memorial, research and educational institution. Even before it had a permanent site, Yad Vashem embarked on several major projects: collecting ‘pages of testimony’ to commemorate individuals killed in the Holocaust, acquiring Holocaust documentation and personal testimonies of survivors for the archives and library, and developing research and publications. By the time Yad Vashem moved to the Mount of Remembrance in 1957, it had already collected several hundred thousand names of victims, had published its first book, and was planning its first historical exhibition. The opening of a Holocaust archive in the mid-1950s entailed the need to collect materials for research which would help to commemorate the atrocities suffered and possibly contribute to preventing such events fi^om recurring. Yad Vashem was also the first to address the subject of rescue by non-Jews with the opening of the Avenue of the Righteous among the Nations in 1962. The Eichmann trial of 1961 – to which Yad Vashem contributed much archival assistance – marked a watershed in Holocaust commemoration and research both in Israel and worldwide. So too did Israel’s perceived vulnerability during the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars, the emergence of a post-Holocaust generation, and the rise in foreign tourism to Israel. These events culminated in Yad Vashem’s pioneering approach to Holocaust remembrance based on the belief that people distanced fi-om the events by time and place needed more basic explanations. Thus a historical museum, the first of its kind, opened in July 1973 telling the story of the Holocaust from beginning to end. During this time, Yad Vashem’s publications and scholarly conferences began addressing a wide range of Holocaust-related subjects. In 1968 the first Yad Vashem international conference (on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust) advanced scholarly research on the Shoah. Yad Vashem also opened its education department, which was among the first to teach Holocaust studies to secondary school pupils, university students, Israeli soldiers and the general public. In 1979 it held its first summer institute to train teachers and professors from abroad. These early initiatives grew into the International School for Holocaust Studies. By the end of the 1980s the Children’s Memorial had opened, preparation for the Valley of the Communities was well advanced, the Art Museum had become a visitors’ mainstay, and a project was undertaken to update the Historical Museum, its most visited site. With the passage of time, and awareness that in a number of years there would no longer be survivors to share their personal stories, Yad Vashem embarked on a development project to provide what has become the largest Holocaust archive in the world and the leading library on the subject. Jubilee Year sees the opening of the new visitors’ centre and the new museum complex. Yad Vashem has devoted 50 years to Holocaust research, commemoration and education. It is much more than another memorial.