Significance

Yad Vashem – The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, stands as a unifying symbol for Jews all over the world, and as a warning against anti-Semitism, prejudice and genocide.

It represents the memory, voice and conscience of the Jewish people – strengthening their commitment to the State of Israel, Jewish continuity and the protection of basic human rights and values worldwide.

The strength and significance of Yad Vashem is that it transcends national boundaries, receiving worldwide respect and support.

 

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Photographs of Holocaust Survivors and their Families

Yad Vashem is interested in receiving photographs of Holocaust survivors together with one or more family members. The photographs are needed for the permanent exhibition opening in the Jewish Block at the Auschwitz Memorial, for the section depicting the survivors’ return to life.
Contact http://www.yadvashem.org/for more details

News

Yad Vashem Book Launch

 
l-r, Henry Foner, Dr Iael Nidam-Orvieto, and Yad Vashem - UK Foundation Chairman Simon Bentley

Yad Vashem -UK Foundation launched their book sponsoring project at the LJCC on Tuesday 23 April. More than 80 people heard Yad Vashem Publications editor-in-chief, Dr Iael Nadim-Orvieto discuss the importance of the project and the special interest these two very different new books have created.

Das Ende, is a powerful photographic document that illustrates the end of two Jewish communities,Radom and Szydlowiec, and reflects the fate of many other Jewish towns and villages inPoland. The photos were probably taken by a German soldier stationed there, but many years of research have failed to identify the photographer. What is clear from the photos is that unlike many photos taken of Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust, the attitude of the photographer seems to become more sympathetic to the plight of the Jews as time wears on.

Postcards to a Little Boy, is an extremely moving personal book showing a collection of postcards written to the young Henry Foner, whose original name was Heinz Lichtwitz, by his father in the few months after he had sent him, alone, on the Kindertransport to the UK. The final postcard was dated August 1939. In an emotional talk, Henry Foner recounted how he had been lucky enough to be taken in by a warm Jewish family in Wales and how his adoptive mother kept all the colourful postcards his father had written to him, and together with other letters and birthday cards from that time put them in an album.

The books were sponsored by the Rogoff family, in memory of loved ones who perished in the Holocaust, and Zea Lewis, along with the Lewis, Press and Feinstein families in memory of Stanley Lewis.

To order a copy of the books or to sponsor a new book to be published by Yad Vashem Publications,contact:  office@yadvashem.org.uk

 

President Obama at Yad Vashem

From the Desk of Avner Shalev – Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

March 22, 2013

Dear Friends,                           
This morning, I was honored to host President Barack Obama at Yad Vashem. This was the second time I was privileged to guide him through the Mount of Remembrance. It was a most memorable experience, highlighting the President’s knowledge of Holocaust history, his deep commitment to Holocaust remembrance and his strong appreciation of Yad Vashem’s unique universal status and role.

 Since the President’s schedule permitted no more than one hour with us, I decided to focus this time on places and subjects that would emphasize the imperative of recalling the personal stories of individual Jews, murdered in the Shoah. I took Mr. Obama – accompanied by President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Lau – to the Hall of Names, the Museum of Holocaust Art and to the Children’s Memorial. Obama also participated in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.

 At the Hall of Names, I recounted the tragic story of Israel Eljasz Maroko, the Chief Cantor of the Main Synagogue in Amsterdam. In 1943, Maroko was deported from the Westerbork transit camp to the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland where he was immediately murdered. The Cantor and his wife Rajsel had four children: Of this entire family, only one son Simon, survived.  In 1956, Simon submitted a Page of Testimony to Yad Vashem, in memory of his family.

 I returned to Cantor Maroko’s personal story after we emerged from the Children’s Memorial. There I presented President Obama with a token of remembrance containing a replica of the liturgical tune composed by Maroko in 1941, in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, to accompany the Passover Seder hymn Had Gadya (One Little Goat). Of Maroko’s numerous cantorial compositions, only this one survived the Holocaust.

This poignant artifact was recently donated to Yad Vashem by Maroko’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, of Sylvan Lake, Michigan, in response to our “Gathering the Fragments” campaign. I explained to the President that for me these musical notes embody the irretrievably lost potential and creativity of each man, woman and child murdered in the Shoah. Our ability at Yad Vashem to restore Israel Maroko’s name, to see photos of him, and to listen to recordings of him singing his, and our, Jewish heritage, helps us keep his legacy alive.

 Visibly moved throughout his visit to Yad Vashem, President Obama told me that his sister, Maya, an accomplished educator and teacher trainer, is enriched in her work by materials created and disseminated by Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies.

Just before he departed Yad Vashem, the President spoke to us:

Nothing equals the wrenching power of this sacred place, where the totality of the Shoah is told. Here we see their faces and we hear their voices.  We look upon the objects of their lives, the art that they created, the prayer books that they carried. Here we hope, because after we walk through these halls, after you pass through the darkness there is light.  The glorious view of the Jerusalem forest, with the sun shining over the historic homeland of the Jewish people, a fulfillment of the prophecy: You shall live again, upon your own soil.

Avner Shalev
Chairman, Yad Vashem Directorate

 

February 2013 – UK Teachers Seminar, Yad Vashem Jerusalem

21 teachers and educators, from Jewish schools and organisations, sponsored by Yad Vashem – UK Foundation, flew out to Jerusalem for a week long intensive learning programme with top educators at Yad Vashem.

 

 

For a report on this year’s seminar:
http://www.thejc.com/community/special-reports/102724/teachers-learning-a-fresh-perspective-holocaust

If you would like more information contact helen.kon@yadvashem.org.uk

Professor Yehuda Bauer in London for Holocaust Memorial Day Events

Yad Vashem – UK Foundation was delighted to welcome Professor Yehuda Bauer, Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Hartman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem. On his brief visit to London to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day he spoke to a packed audience of over 180 people at LJCC, on the subject of “Why did World War II break out?”

According to Professor Yehuda Bauer, an ideologically motivated genocide took place within the context of an ideologically motivated world war. From his analysis of several key documents he draws the conclusion that World War II was motivated by antisemitism more than the quest for land, or social and economic factors. A key document he discussed is a document, dated August, 1936 in which Hitler explains to Hermann Göring why he has to prepareGermanyfor war within four years. The importance of that memorandum lies in the fact that it was not intended for propaganda, but was a private message from the dictator to his second-in-command. In it, Hitler says that there is an acute danger of the world being conquered by Bolshevism and international Jewry. “A victory of Bolshevism [which Hitler equated with international Jewry] would not lead to a Versailles Treaty, but to the final destruction, even the extermination of the German people.” Hence the necessity for a war. As Professor Bauer concluded “It is estimated that 35 million people died in World War II, inEuropealone. Of these, close to 6 million were Jews, but some 29 million were non-Jews. They died, in part at least, because of antisemitism. 

A lively question and answer session followed, chaired by LJCC’s Executive Director of Education and Holocaust Studies Trudy Gold.  Yad Vashem – UK Foundation’s Chairman, Simon Bentley presented Professor Bauer with an inscribed award expressing thanks from Yad Vashem – UK Foundation. 

In addition Professor Bauer addressed 60 people at a lunch at the offices of BDO on the topic of “Rescue and Resistance”, where he was thanked by a former student of his, senior partner Michael Goldstein. He also spoke to a rapt audience at the Hasmonean High School for girls on the subject of “Hidden Children during the Holocaust”, as part of their preparation for a sixth form trip to Poland.

Simon Bentley, Chairman Yad Vashem-UK Foundation, Professor Bauer and LJCC’s Trudy Gold

Photo: John Rifkin

 

Yad Vashem – UK Foundation Award for Contribution to Racial Understanding

“There are so many lessons to be learnt and understood from the Holocaust and we believe football can play its part in encouraging society to speak out against intolerance in all its forms – and in advancing the important work of teaching future generations about the horrors of the Holocaust.” – Roy Hodgson, June 2012

 Roy Hodgson, manager of the England Football team accepted the Yad Vashem – UK Foundation Award for Contribution to Racial Understanding on behalf of the team and the FA, on 5 November 2012 at the Royal Institution. In his introduction, Jonathan Metliss said that the evening, sponsored by Investec, was the first award in what is hoped will become a regular award for organisations whose actions demonstrate their commitment to racial understanding and fighting prejudice.  Through the visit toAuschwitz of several members of the England Football Team and their manager in June 2012, and the surrounding publicity, awareness of the Holocaust and the dangers of racial prejudice were raised to a higher profile. Ben Helfgott, Holocaust survivor, former Olympian weightlifter, and President of Yad Vashem –UK Foundation. presented the award. Simon Bentley, Chairman of Yad Vashem – UK Foundation said, “I hope that this sort of event will encourage racial understanding in all areas of society and help to raise awareness of the vital work that we do, especially in the area of training teachers to teach the Holocaust.”

 

President Shimon Peres Pays Special Tribute to Five Decades of Work of the

Commission for the Designation of the Righteous

(September 4, 2012 – Jerusalem) President of Israel Shimon Peres honored 50 years of activity of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations. In a moving reception at the President’s Residence, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev gave the President a special memento – a copy of the testimony that Peres’ father Yitzhak Perski presented to the Commission in 1965 regarding an English soldier named Charles Coward. Coward aided Perski when they were both being held in a German POW camp in Greece. Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Commission Chairman Supreme Court Justice (ret.) Jacob Turkel and committee members also participated in the special event.

President Peres remarked to the members of the Commission, “Your job is not only an historic duty, it is also an educational mission. The recognition of Righteous Among the Nations is important to those who lived then, but also to those who were born later. We all need to know and appreciate those extraordinary and brave individuals who risked their lives and showed that even during the darkest of days there were people with a shining inner spirit.”

Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations Chairman Jacob Turkel emphasized that “The job of the Commission members to decide who is eligible for the title of Righteous Among the Nations and who is not requires great powers of inner strength, intelligence and compassion. They undertake this holy work that has been placed upon their shoulders with devotion and love and out of a deep historic commitment.”

British soldier Charles Coward joined the British army in 1924, and served five years in India. During WWII, holding the rank of sergeant major, Coward fought on the French front; in 1940 he was wounded and captured at Dunkirk. He escaped from captivity several times, and was eventually incarcerated at the Monowitz camp near Auschwitz. During this period, Coward helped save a number of Jews. Known as the “Count of Auschwitz,” he had the idea of collecting precious chocolate and cigarettes from his fellow British prisoners, and exchanging them with Auschwitz guards for dead bodies. He substituted these bodies for Jewish inmates, who he helped to escape. On February 16, 1964, Yad Vashem recognized Charles Coward as Righteous Among the Nations.

The Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nation has been active for 50 years. The independent committee acts much as a jury and its final decisions are reached by a vote. The Commission is comprised of researchers, legal experts and historians, many of whom are Holocaust survivors, and all of whom are volunteers. To date, more than 24,300 individuals have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

Yavneh college pupil’s link to Shoah victim

Jewish Chronicle 21 June 2012  By Marcus Dysch

A Borehamwood batmitzvah girl and her family turned her simchah into a moving memorial to a 10-year-old Holocaust victim.

Yavneh College pupil Leah Stepsky had asked her teachers to replicate an Israeli scheme which links bar- and batmitzvah students with young Holocaust victims through birth dates.

When teachers contacted the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, they were told that no victim had a birthday matching Leah’s. Instead, staff suggested using her first name and her mother’s maiden name to pair her with Polish girl Leah Fishman, who was murdered in October 1942.

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