Jerusalem Everlasting Memory The New Shoah Heritage Campus at Yad Vashem - International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
YadJVa hem erusalem
Everlasting Memory
Volume 88, February 2019
The New Shoah Heritage Campus
at Yad Vashem
(pp. 4-5)
International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019
(pp. 2-3)
YadJVa hem erusalem Contents
Diplomatic
representatives from
over 50 countries
Volume 88, Adar A 5779, Febuary 2019
Yad Vashem Marks International Holocaust
Remembrance Day Worldwide and Online ■ 2-3
Published by:
Everlasting Memory ■ 4-5
were called upon
The New Shoah Heritage Campus at Yad Vashem not to fall victim to
Education ■ 6-9 Holocaust distortion
Liberators and Survivors: The First Moments ■ 6
■ New Educational Video Reaches Global Audience
Chairman of the Council: Rabbi Israel Meir Lau New Digital Resource for Educators
Chancellor of the Council: Dr. Moshe Kantor in Jewish Frameworks ■ 7 ■ On Thursday, 24 January 2019, Yad
Vice Chairman of the Council: Dr. Yitzhak Arad First-Ever Seminar for Educators Vashem hosted its Annual Event for the
Chairman of the Directorate: Avner Shalev in Australian Jewish Schools ■ 7 International Diplomatic Corps in Israel
Director General: Dorit Novak Graduate Spotlight ■ 8 marking the UN-sanctioned International
Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Deborah Hamilton, USA Day of Commemoration in Memory of the
Research and Incumbent, John Najmann Chair Holocaust Educational Center Wins Victims of the Holocaust. Ambassadors and
for Holocaust Studies: Prof. Dan Michman
IDF Chief Prize ■ 8 diplomatic representatives from over 50 countries
Chief Historian: Prof. Dina Porat
Legacy: 80 Years since the Anschluss ■ 9 were greeted by Yad Vashem Chairman Avner
Academic Advisor:
Shalev and Israel’s Minister of Education Naftali
Prof. Yehuda Bauer Research ■ 9-14 Bennett. Shalev reminded the gathered diplomats
Members of the Yad Vashem Directorate:
Shmuel Aboav, Yossi Ahimeir, Daniel Atar, The Rescue of Jewish Academics ■ 9 of the essential facts of Holocaust history, and
Dr. David Breakstone, Abraham Duvdevani, The Perception of Time called upon them not to fall victim to Holocaust
Erez Eshel, Prof. Boleslaw (Bolek) Goldman, during the Holocaust ■ 10-11 distortion, but rather to “to join with us to ensure
Moshe Ha-Elion, Adv. Shlomit Kasirer,
Yehiel Leket, Adv. Tamar Peled Amir, “Cultivating Support” ■ 11 that truthful memory continues to inspire and
Avner Shalev, Baruch Shub, Dalit Stauber, Jewish Leadership in Lithuanian Ghettos motivate the world.” Minister Bennett spoke
Dr. Zehava Tanne, Dr. Laurence Weinbaum, of his family connection to the Holocaust and
Adv. Shoshana Weinshall, Dudi Zilbershlag Keeping the Hope Alive ■ 12-13
stated that “the universal lesson to be learned
Research Workshop on the Search for Missing
Relatives after WWII is that we must be good, call out against evil
THE MAGAZINE
and… never single out people because of their
Editor-in-Chief: Iris Rosenberg Winners of the International Book Prize ■ 13 race, beliefs or opinions.”
Managing Editor: Leah Goldstein The Ethical Use of Jewish Human Remains After the opening remarkes, Director of the
Editorial Board: from WWII ■ 14 Yad Vashem Archives and Fred Hillman Chair
Simmy Allen
Deborah Berman Fellows Corner: Dr. Roni Stauber ■ 14 for Holocaust Documentation Dr. Haim Gertner
Adam Henderson delivered a lecture on the topic “Jews Rescuing
Dana Porath The Art of Living ■ 14-15
Lilach Tamir-Itach A New Painting by Pinchas Shaar
Dana Weiler-Polak in the Art Collection
Susan Weisberg
Editorial Coordinator: Miri Rabinovich Nissim
“Life Was Good” ■ 16-17
Wartime Journal from the Children’s Home in
Language Editor: Leah Goldstein
Chardonne, Switzerland
Proofreader: Ezra Olman
Translated by: James Joseph Mclntosh Survivor Testimony in the Digital Age ■ 17
Assisted by: Alexander Avram, Women of Valor ■ 18-19
Shaya Ben Yehuda, Ayala Peretz, Female Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust
Amanda Smulowitz, Martin Sykes-Haas
Photography: Yossi Ben-David, Isaac Harari, Survivor Witnesses Honored
Noam Revkin Fenton, Martin Sykes-Haas at Special Event ■ 19 Jews," which was also broadcast live via Yad
Production: Ahva Printing Press Company Ltd. The Other Michael Zaibel ■ 20-21 Vashem’s Facebook page. Dr. Gertner’s lecture
Design: Stephanie & Ruti Design Pages of Testimony Lead to Family Reunion focused on a collection of rescue stories from
This magazine was published with the News ■ 21-25 the Yad Vashem Archives carried out by Jewish
assistance of The Azrieli Group. educators and youth, such as Aharon Menczer,
Friends Worldwide ■ 26-31 who devoted his life to youth in Vienna and
ISSN 0793-7199
The International Institute for Holocaust Theresiensdat; Chava-Eva Warburg, who saved
©Articles appearing in this issue may be reprinted Research: Publications ■ 32
with proper acknowledgement. many Jewish children in Germany and Sweden;
and Heinz Prossnitz, who sent hundreds of life-
Yad Vashem’s activities are supported by
saving packages to Theresienstadt. “Due to the
Israel's Ministry of Education intensity of murderous Nazi activity, a large
■ On the cover: The shoe of the infant Hinda
Cohen, with the date of her deportation from the number of the rescue attempts initiated by Jews
and The Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany.
Kovno ghetto to Auschwitz during the Children’s sadly failed,” summed up Dr. Gertner. “And yet…
Aktion, carved into the sole by her father Dov. they reflect the human spirit in the shadow of
One of thousands of items to be preserved for
posterity in Yad Vashem's new Shoah Heritage death, and therefore they are so significant to
Collections Center (see pp. 4-5). us and to our lives today.”
2
Yad Vashem Marks
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Worldwide and Online Leah Goldstein
section of informative resources to the liberation
of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which took place 27
January 1945, and is the reason this specific
date was chosen by the UN to commemorate
the Holocaust and its victims worldwide. A
playlist of educational videos taken from Yad
Vashem’s free MOOC (Massive Open Online
Course), “Antisemitism: From Its Origins to the
Present” was also included on the site. In the
course, fifty leading scholars from all over the
world explore questions and issues relating to
antisemitism, including its definition, how it has
changed throughout history, and why it can still
be found today among so many diverse cultures,
even among opposing ideologies.
Following the lecture, a panel dialogue on project to commemorate Shoah victims.
“Jewish Rescue and Solidarity in a Disintegrating This year, Facebook Israel joined the efforts
World” was held with the participation of two to promote the project, helping publicize to
Holocaust survivors – Haim Roet, who was Facebook users the call to join this unique
rescued by Jews and non-Jews in the Dutch commemorative activity. “Yad Vashem works
resistence; and Fanny Ben Ami, who was tirelessly to guarantee that the memory of the
involved in saving both Jews and non-Jews Holocaust is relevant and constant, while facing
through her activities with the French resistence, the challenge of its global dissemination,” stated
eventually leading 28 Jewish children to safe Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “Therefore,
haven in Switzerland. Both survivors raised the we maintain an active presence on social media, A new online exhibition featuring last
topics of solidarity between Jewish rescuers and today’s platforms for contemporary discourse. letters of Holocaust victims from 1941-1944 was
non-Jewish rescuers, as well as between victims. The new joint project with Facebook Israel, opened on Yad Vashem's French website, and
Referring to her “story of resistence,” Ben Ami which will continue with ‘To Every Person There on the German website a new online exhibition
explained how she felt the tragedy only after is a Story' on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance opened, entitled “The Last Postcard of Berta
the war, when she discovered that her parents Day this May, allows the broader public to Joschkowitz."
had been murdered in the death camps. For Roet, connect with the names and stories of the Jews Also marking International Holocaust
it was important to emphasize that his story murdered during the Holocaust and enables Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem traveling
teaches how humans can communicate with those who wish to express their commitment exhibitions were shown around the world,
one another to create a better world. to Holocaust remembrance to do so in a simple including in the United States, Latin America and
At the event, the gathered diplomats were and timely way.” Europe. The “Beyond Duty” exhibition, prepared
urged to join Yad Vashem’s “IRemember Also featured on Facebook was “Ask a by Yad Vashem for Israel’s Foreign Ministry,
Wall,” a project created to promote Holocaust Survivor.” Two weeks before 27 January, showcases diplomats who risked their lives to
remembrance in the digital sphere. Running the participants were given an opportunity to save Jews during the Holocaust. The exhibition
week of International Holocaust Remembrance ask questions to a number of survivors. On was on display in the General Assembly of the
Day, the “IRemember Wall” randomly matched International Holocaust Remembrance Day and United Nations in New York, the UN offices in
each participant with one of the Jewish men, over the next few weeks, some of the questions Geneva, and at the Foreign Ministry in Paris, with
women and children recorded in Yad Vashem’s were then answered online by survivors. the participation of Israel’s President H.E. Mr.
Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, A mini-site marking International Holocaust Reuven Rivlin and the French Foreign Minister
which today holds some 4,800,000 records. Remembrance Day, featuring a variety of Jean-Yves Le Drian (pictured above). In addition,
The commemorated victim could then be resources the public could view, share and Holocaust scholars and educators from Yad
shared via the participant’s account on a engage in, including online exhibitions and Vashem, as well as Yad Vashem Societies around
number of social media platforms. In total, educational resources, was uploaded to Yad the world, participated in commemorative events
some 17,800 people took part in this special Vashem’s website. The site dedicated a complete and ceremonies on every continent.
3
Everlasting Memory
The New Shoah Heritage Campus at Yad Vashem
■ Works of art, artifacts and documentation from Yad Vashem’s unrivaled collections will be preserved for generations to come in the new Shoah Heritage Campus.
■ As I stand on the border between life and museum” where her artwork would find a home.
death, certain that I will not remain alive, I Gela Seksztajn’s last will was in fact that of all
Due to the compromised
wish to take leave from my friends and my the artists who were murdered in the Holocaust. physical condition of the
works… My works I bequeath to the Jewish During the Shoah, an entire universe was
museum to be built after the war. Farewell, shattered and dispersed in myriad directions. artworks, artifacts and
my friends. Farewell, the Jewish people. Never The remaining fragments vary infinitely in archival items upon their
again allow such a catastrophe. size, shape and texture. Each fragment tells
From the Last Will and Testament of its own story, which, when interwoven with arrival at Yad Vashem, they
Gela Seksztajn, 1 August 1942 others, helps to recreate the rich and extensive
tapestry of Jewish life in Europe before the
often require immediate
On the precipice of death, amid the transports
from the Warsaw ghetto in the summer of 1942 war, the events that led to its destruction, and conservation work to
and only half a year before she and her daughter
Margalit were transported to Treblinka, artist
the lives that continued to be lived while the
devastation unfolded.
prevent further decay
Gela Seksztajn wrote her last will and testament. In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust,
The words reveal, in an unsettling manner and survivors sought a suitable venue to which they of information that can help tell the stories of the
leaving no room for doubt, that she was well could entrust their cherished memories that six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.
aware of what fate awaited her: murder at the survived the inferno; this has continued for Today, Yad Vashem houses the world’s largest
hands of the Nazis. nearly seven decades. The name “Yad Vashem” – and most comprehensive Holocaust-era related
Despite the total destruction unfolding before a memorial and a name – itself highlights collections. It is Yad Vashem’s moral obligation
her eyes, however, Gela possessed complete the important mission of being the home to to the Jewish people and humanity to preserve
confidence that the Jewish people would arise the memories of the Jewish people. Since its every item and use them to educate about the
from ruin and that they would erect a “Jewish establishment in 1953, Yad Vashem has striven Holocaust worldwide. These personal effects,
to collect all relevant names, items and sources or those that served communities, range from
4
Yad Vashem houses the world's largest and most
comprehensive Holocaust-era related collections. It is
Yad Vashem's moral obligation to the Jewish people
and humanity to preserve every item and use them to
educate about the Holocaust worldwide Leah Goldstein
most frequently visited sites of Yad Vashem –
the Shoah Heritage Collections Center will
comprise four subterranean levels covering
a total area of 5,880 square meters (63,300
square feet).
The Center will comprise, among other
elements, an entrance gallery, intake and
registration section, cataloguing station,
digitization room and specialized conservation
and photography laboratories. as well as storage
facilities featuring climate-controlled settings,
air filtration and fire suppression systems, and
advanced security and safety controls. Due to
the compromised physical condition of the items
upon their arrival at Yad Vashem, they often
require immediate conservation work to prevent
further decay. The cutting-edge conservation
laboratories will specialize in different fields
of preservation, and as such will be able to
treat the range of materials from which the
items stored in the Center are made – wood,
paper, textile, metal, stone – thus providing
Yad Vashem's dedicated conservation experts
with the optimal conditions to perform their
delicate work.
■ Architectural rendering of the new Shoah Heritage Campus Visiting dignitaries and supporters of
Yad Vashem will receive behind-the-scenes
tours of the Center, where they will have the
diaries and letters to official documents; from In light of this huge increase in volume, opportunity to see Yad Vashem’s wealth of
paintings and drawings created in the face of Yad Vashem recently launched a campaign to artifacts, documents and artworks not on display
death to children’s toys; from Torah scrolls build the Shoah Heritage Campus – with the in the Museum Complex, but all of which tell
to crude work tools used by prisoners in the Shoah Heritage Collections Center at its heart – their own unique stories. Moreover, the items
camps; from Schindler’s List to ration cards; to serve as home to these precious treasures for in the Center will serve as an essential basis
from private photographs and personal film generations to come. for the educational and research materials Yad
reels to clothing that miraculously endured the The Shoah Heritage Campus will include Vashem produces for and implements in their
hardships of fleeing persecution. the Joseph Wilf Curatorial Center; the Heritage various international seminars and workshops
Now, as the torch of remembrance is being Gallery for display of treasures from its for curators, educators and researchers.
passed to the next generations, the survivors collections; and an auditorium, including a main “The Nazis made a concentrated effort not
and their children are more willing to submit hall and a Family and Children’s Exhibition only to murder the Jews, but also to obliterate
private material and entrust it to Yad Vashem Gallery. The Family and Children’s Exhibition their identity, memory, culture and heritage,”
for safekeeping. Since the 2011 launch of the Gallery will respond to the needs of an important explains Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.
“Gathering the Fragments” campaign to rescue population of visitors who come to Yad Vashem “For many, all that was left behind were the
Holocaust-era items that are still kept in private with children who are too young to enter the artworks and personal artifacts, photos and
homes and are at great risk of deterioration, Holocaust History Museum, yet are seeking a documents that survived the harshest of
Yad Vashem has received some 265,000 items, meaningful family experience. conditions and were entrusted to Yad Vashem to
significantly adding to its already unrivaled The central component of the new Campus keep the stories of their creators and their owners
collections. The process of collecting the items is the Shoah Heritage Collections Center, with alive. Through the preservation and display
was accompanied by documenting the narratives state-of-the-art storage facilities for artworks, of this intellectual and spiritual property, the
that lie behind each one, enabling Yad Vashem artifacts and archival materials. Situated in a Shoah Heritage Collections Center will give the
to teach about the Holocaust from the individual strategically prominent, highly visible location – victims back their voice and identity, ensuring
point of view. opposite the Hall of Remembrance, one of the that they will never be forgotten.”
5
Education
Liberators and Survivors: The First Moments
New Educational Video Reaches Global Audience
Sheryl Ochayon
■ “In two years of combat you can imagine crimes against civilians. Selected testimonies
I have seen a lot of death... but nothing has presented in the film show the intense emotional
ever stirred me as much as this... how could effect that liberation had on these young men,
people do things like that? I never believed such as Leon Bass, who was 20 years old when
they could, until now.” he helped liberate Buchenwald. Bass relates,
US Staff Sergeant Horace Evers, “I can never forget that day, because when
on what he witnessed while liberating Dachau I walked through that gate I saw [...] human
American teachers – especially those who teach
world history or the history of WWII – often
״Now, as witnesses to
search for an introduction into the study of the the Holocaust are nearly
Holocaust. The story of the liberation of the Nazi
camps is a natural bridge between the study
all gone, it is extremely
of the war itself and the genocide perpetrated important that truth and
against the Jewish people during that war.
Yad Vashem’s International School for
facts, supported by those
Holocaust Studies, through the “Echoes & who experienced the
Reflections” professional development program
for American educators, has created a film horror of these events, ■ US soldiers help a survivor, Penig concentration
to provide this introduction. Liberators and are not forgotten." camp, Germany, April 1945 | Yad Vashem Archives
Survivors: The First Moments is a short
(15-minute) film that opens with footage of Roger Lane a moral voice in later years, sharing his story and
WWII and maps illustrating the progress of pleading that humanity learn from his experience.
Interwoven with the liberators’ testimonies are
beings that had been beaten, those of Jewish survivors, who speak of the
they’d been starved, they’d been compassion shown by their liberators. Solly
tortured. They had been denied Ganor, liberated after a death march from Dachau,
everything.” calls his liberator, Japanese-American Clarence
Primary sources include the Matsumura, simply “his angel.”
reaction of General Dwight D. Produced for students in the classroom, the
Eisenhower, who immediately film was created with great sensitivity, choosing
understood the need for evidence to focus on the human story rather than just
to counter the possibility of showing shocking images. As such, it has met
denial, a problem sadly still with a very enthusiastic response on YouTube –
relevant today. “I made the with some 700,000 views in its first year. It
visit [to the camp of Ohrdruf, has received hundreds of comments including,
a subcamp of Buchenwald] so “This was a great educational video. Needs to
as to be in the position to give be seen everywhere” and merely “Thank you for
firsthand evidence of these remembering.” Roger Lane wrote: “The liberators
■ Leon Bass (right) tells young students about his involvement in the liberation things if ever, in the future, and survivors of concentration camps were astute
of Buchemwald there develops a tendency to enough at the time to consider the possibility that
charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’” people wouldn’t believe them. Signs proclaiming
the Allied armies, and quickly moves into the
After requesting that members of Congress ‘this happened’ appeared immediately. Now, as
initial dramatic encounters between liberators
and journalists as well as other soldiers in the witnesses to the Holocaust are nearly all gone,
and survivors. It opens a window into these
region come personally to view the horrors, it is extremely important that truth and facts,
powerful moments and provides an educational
he wrote: “We are told the American soldier supported by those who experienced the horror
opportunity to discuss them.
does not know what he is fighting for. Now at of these events, are not forgotten.”
The focus of the film is the American soldiers —
least he will know what he is fighting against.”
many no older than 18 or 19 — who liberated Liberators and Survivors: The First Moments was
The film shows how many of the American produced with the generous support of Dana and
Nazi camps and were the first outside witnesses
liberators suspended their military missions in Yossie Hollander and the Snider Foundation.
to the monstrous evidence that the Nazis and
order to provide care for the survivors. It also The author is the “Echoes & Reflections" Program
their collaborators had committed unspeakable Director, International School for Holocaust Studies.
highlights one liberator who, like others, became
6
New Digital Resource for Educators in Jewish Frameworks
Shani Lourie
■ “Like someone receiving medication, like “Educational Materials for the Jewish number of creative activities to keep youth
those who receive a transfusion, this is how it World” provides teachers and guides with a engaged with the topic. Technologically
was for those who periodically went to satirical range of age-appropriate lesson plans for the advanced user-friendly filters enable educators
plays at the theater, to laugh a little and dissipate purpose of creating meaningful discussions to easily locate suitable materials for their
the ‘black bitterness,’ to force themselves into focusing on Holocaust memory, remembrance teaching environments. As in many of the
a lighter mood, and forget for several hours and commemoration. As a springboard for International School’s educational programs,
the melancholy and despair.” these discussions, for example, one lesson plan the platform emphasizes the historical context
Meir (Mark) Dworzecki, The Jerusalem is centered on tefilla (prayer) and faith during and accentuates the story of the individual, as
of Lithuania in Revolt and in the Holocaust the Holocaust, while another concentrates on
(Tel Aviv: Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael, 1951)
Israel as a home to Jewish child survivors, such
Meir (Mark) Dworzecki was a Jewish doctor as Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Israel
in the Vilna ghetto. In addition to his medical Meir Lau, immediately after the Shoah. Other
work, Dr. Dworzecki was a member of the ghetto topics developed so far cover the use of personal
underground, who endeavored to document all artifacts, for example Chaim Basok’s tefillin or
aspects of life in the ghetto, and the various Shmuel Daich’s shirt; as well as inspiring stories
attitudes held by its Jewish prisoners towards of Righteous Among the Nations, including
the cultural events held there. that of Warsaw Zoo Director Jan Zabinski and
Meir Dworzecki’s rich testimonies appear his wife Antonina. All of these examples help
in one of the lessons featured on a new digital students comprehend the multicultural and well as sparks of light in the darkness of the
resource recently launched by the International individual identities of the Jewish individuals Shoah, thus developing and strengthening
School for Holocaust Studies. The resource, and communities destroyed during the Holocaust. Jewish identity in today’s complex global society.
accessible from the “Education and E-Learning” The multidisciplinary lesson plans utilize The new digital resource is generously supported
section on the Yad Vashem website, was created Holocaust-related materials and resources, such by David and Ellie Werber, and Marin and Bracha
Werber.
to help educators teach about the Holocaust in as testimonies, posters, letters, photographs,
both formal and informal Jewish frameworks artworks, music and diaries, to encourage The author is Head of the Pedagogy Section,
International School for Holocaust Studies.
across the English-speaking world. individual and group dialogues, as well as a
First-Ever Seminar for Educators in Australian Jewish Schools
Rabbi Moshe Cohn
■ At the end of 2018, Yad Vashem hosted its International School for Holocaust Studies; and ground for the benefit of their students and the
first-ever seminar for educators in Australian the presentation of classroom teaching units Australian Jewish community in general. “Being
Jewish Schools. With the theme “The Role Shoah by School staff. Special programs included a together with other Australian Jewish Studies
Studies Can Play in Developing Jewish Identity,” tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Art Museum, teachers has been so engaging and created
the program was an interesting mix of prewar, discussing the use of film in teaching the Shoah, such a wonderful common goal and feeling of
wartime and postwar Holocaust history taught Yiddish literature, and understanding the role connectedness,” declared Sharon Greenberg of
of photography in Nazi propaganda. Andrea Moriah College in Sydney.
Gore from the King David School in Melbourne “It is our hope that following the
said, “This has been a completely transformative tremendous success of this first seminar there
experience. I am so grateful to have had the will be additional seminars and programs
opportunity to participate.” uniquely catered to the Australian Jewish
The seminar reflected the broad and diverse community,” said Ephraim Kaye, Director of
Australian Jewish community. Teachers from the Jewish World and International Seminars
Shalom Aleichem, a Yiddish-based “Bund” Department at the International School. “Their
school, participated with teachers from Yeshiva rich and continuing commitment to excellent
College and Beth Rivka, as well as Lubavitch boys Shoah education can serve as an example to
and girls schools. As the seminar progressed, the entire Jewish world.”
the participating teachers engaged each other The seminar was generously supported by donors
■ Seminar participants view the model of Yad in lively conversation, debate, and discussions who chose to remain anonymous.
Vashem in the Visitors Center
of different teaching goals and styles. What The author is Head of the Jewish World Section,
by Yad Vashem historians; a discussion of the emerged was an awareness of similarities Jewish World and International Seminars
Department, International School for Holocaust
Yad Vashem pedagogical approach to teaching between schools of different philosophical Studies.
about the Shoah by educational experts at the approaches and a desire to work to find common
education 7
Graduate Spotlight
Every year, over 300,000 students and educators from Israel
and around the world attend hundreds of educational Deborah Hamilton
activities, in a dozen languages, at the International School
for Holocaust Studies. Featured here is one of the School’s USA
graduates, and what she has achieved since:
Sheryl Ochayon
■ Deborah Hamilton teaches eighth-grade surrounded by movement, complete with T-shirts, decals,
Social Studies in the rural North Potter school hate,” she recalls. bumper stickers and lawn signs. She has refuted
district in Pennsylvania. Deeply antisemitic “We stood at the Holocaust denial he preaches by presenting
views held by a group in the almost all-white Birkenau together photos from her Journey to hundreds of people
community, in her words, “bleed into the minds to bear witness in the community and speaking about what
of our youth.” In fact, a resident of her town is to the greatest she witnessed. She has also written about her
a vocal swastika-wearing Holocaust denier who atrocity in the Journey with “Echoes & Reflections,” and has
has spread his ugly message over the internet. human world, spoken about her experiences and the Holocaust
Deborah recently discovered “Echoes & fueled by hate — at the WWII Museum in Eldred, Pennsylvania.
Reflections,” the premier source for Holocaust- and by a particular After the October 2018 shootings at the Tree
related materials and dynamic classroom content strain of hate: of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, her “Hate
for US educators developed by three world ■ Yad Vashem Graduate antisemitism. Has No Home Here” group made sure that part
leaders in education – the ADL, USC Shoah Deborah Hamilton My heart was of the proceeds from their campaign would
Foundation and Yad Vashem. She uses the overwhelmed with the idea that hate can benefit the synagogue.
program to help give her a strong foundation and cause so much harm. While I understood this, “After my Journey, I will always be loud
powerful resources to combat these antisemitic to witness it gave me a whole new perspective.” about antisemitism,” Deborah has promised.
beliefs through effective and relevant education. When she returned from the Journey, Her community involvement and passion to
In 2018, Deborah participated in the “Echoes Deborah challenged herself to be an agent for combat hate with education are great examples
& Reflections Journey through Poland with social change, communicating this message of the resistance to hatred and injustice about
Yad Vashem,” one of two advanced learning to her students. Since then, she has been a which she teaches. She is one teacher who has
seminars for educators using the program veritable whirlwind of activity. When the local certainly made a difference.
in their classrooms. She and nineteen other neo-Nazi was profiled by CNN, she challenged “Echoes & Reflections” is generously supported
educators from across the United States spent his message by promoting, together with by Dana and Yossie Hollander.
five intensive days visiting sites of extermination other like-minded teachers and community The author is the “Echoes & Reflections” Program
camps, ghettos and mass graves. “We were members, a “Hate Has No Home Here” grassroots Director, International School for Holocaust Studies.
Holocaust Educational Center Wins IDF Chief Prize
Shadow of Death,” and allows teams from Yad year ago to learn about the human spirit in
Vashem’s International School for Holocaust the shadow of the darkest period in history.
Studies to develop and carry out educational Professional staff from Yad Vashem present not
programs as an inherent part of IDF training only historical knowledge, but also dilemmas,
activities. Dealing with the story of the Holocaust dialogues on Jewish and universal values,
as a pivotal event in the history of the Jewish and a complex view of the Holocaust. This
people, alongside examining values such as vital work is done in cooperation with the
Jewish identity, mutual responsibility, heroism IDF Educational Corps and other professional
and attachment to Eretz Israel, forms the basis bodies in the army, and as such, a new and
for the Center’s cooperative endeavors. This unique educational track has been created. I
combination allows the next generations of am pleased to announce that we are currently
■ IDF soldiers participate in a session in soldiers and commanders to commit to passing working on the expansion of the space and
the Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism Educational on the torch of remembrance. the building of a Holocaust educational center
Center at the IDF training base in the Negev
“The Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism that will combine novel educational outlooks
■ In December 2018, the IDF Chief-of- Educational Center is a groundbreaking and learning environments for IDF soldiers and
Staff's Prize for Education was awarded to initiative,” says Dr. Eyal Kaminka, Lily Safra other groups living in the south of the country.”
the Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism Chair of Holocaust Education and Director The Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism
Educational Center in Cooperation with Yad of Yad Vashem's International School for Educational Center in Cooperation with Yad
Vashem at the IDF training campus in the Negev
Vashem at the IDF training campus in the Negev. Holocaust Studies. “Close to 35,000 soldiers, is supported through the generosity of Sadia and
The Center offers a special interactive some of them coming directly from the field, Simmy Cohen, and the Graham and Rhona Beck
have visited the Center since it opened a Foundation, Israel.
space on the topic of “The Human Image in the
8 education
Yad Vashem Studies
Legacy:
80 Years since The Rescue of Jewish
the Anschluss Academics
Dr. Asaf Yedidya Dr. David Silberklang
■ The International School for Holocaust ■ Among the first Jews more publicly critical of the Nazi regime and
Studies' annual periodical Legacy is intended whose livelihoods and openly appointed Anglo-Jews to its council
primarily for teachers who work in the careers were threatened and executive committee. It also organized a
formal education system, as well as students in Nazi Germany were British academic boycott of the University of
and interested members of the public. Every scholars; most Jewish Heidelberg’s 550th anniversary celebrations in
volume is dedicated to a different topic that is university faculty 1936, seeing this as a publicity stunt meant
discussed through different viewpoints. The lost their positions to give implicit international sanction to the
periodical also features lesson plans, which are as a result of the 7 Nazi regime’s destruction of a free German
based on the contents of the volume, as well April 1933 “Law for academia. Neither the Nuremberg Laws nor the
as an overview of new books. the Restoration of Heidelberg celebration’s implications affected
The new volume of Legacy (11) sheds light the Professional Civil the top American universities.
on various aspects of the Anschluss — the Service.” Large numbers of refugee scholars
annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in from the Third Reich, most of them Jews, were Both organizations feared
March 1938 — and the Holocaust in Austria. The
Anschluss was the first in a series of dramatic
in desperate need of relocation and employment
in their fields. Where could they go?
an antisemitic backlash
developments that As Prof. David Zimmerman shows in his among the general public
made 1938 a critical article, “Competitive Cooperation: The Society
turning point in for the Protection of Science and Learning,
and in academia
the history of Nazi the American Emergency Committee, and the These growing differences, the AEC’s concern
Germany and Europe, Placement of Refugee Scholars in North America,” that the British were attempting to monopolize
and which precipitated which appears in the new issue of Yad Vashem the relief effort, and the SPSL’s feeling that the
the outbreak of Studies (46:2), two organizations arose in 1933 Americans were too passive in their efforts to
WWII. Moreover, it that successfully found refuge and jobs for many place refugee academics, heightened tensions
can also be seen as of these scholars, especially in Great Britain and between the two organizations. This growing
a watershed in the the US. The British Society for the Protection of hostility came to a head in March 1939, when
development of the Science and Learning (SPSL) and the American new SPSL General Secretary David Cleghorn
Nazi regime’s anti-Jewish policy. This volume’s Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Thomson visited North America in order to
articles address the Anschluss pogrom — Scholars (AEC) each tried to bring out scholars from examine how more scholars could be placed
the outbreak of violence against the Jews of the Third Reich and find positions for them. They there. The Americans saw Thomson as a
Austria, particularly in Vienna — in the weeks even managed generally to cooperate and pool condescending interloper.
their efforts. Both organizations knew they were Despite this very complex, often tense
The Anschluss was dealing mainly with displaced Jewish academics, relationship, the successful cooperation
but they feared an antisemitic backlash among between these two organizations is particularly
a watershed in the the general public and in academia, especially noteworthy. They developed a kind of
development of the Nazi in American universities. international “underground railroad” that
provided the means of rescue for many refugee
The SPSL and the AEC shared information
regime’s anti-Jewish policy and evaluations of academics, which helped academics. According to the SPSL’s last prewar
them place people in each country. At the same report, of 830 displaced scholars who found
after the annexation; the changes that applied time, they competed for funds when they turned permanent or temporary work outside Germany
to the activity of the concentration camps in to the same American donors, which placed a by June 1938, 60 percent were living in Great
Germany as part of the anti-Jewish policy strain on their relationship. Raising money and Britain and the US (251, or 30.2 percent, and 247,
in the wake of the Anschluss; the complex organizing the absorption and employment or 29.8 percent respectively). A look at any list
character of Benjamin Murmelstein, a prominent of refugees during the Great Depression was of well-known scholars from that period – such
community activist in Vienna during the Nazi politically and socially dangerous for both as Nobel Laureates James Franck, Max Born and
period; and Austrian Righteous Among the organizations. They also needed to minimize the Edward Teller – makes their success evident.
Nations during WWII. potential hostility from scholars and graduate The publication of this volume was made possible
Legacy is published with the generous support students concerned by the arrival of potential through the generous support of Hamburger Stiftung
of Dana and Yossie Hollander. zur Förderung von wissenschaft und kultur.
competitors for scarce academic jobs, especially
The author is Coordinator of Legacy in the when these potential competitors were Jewish. The author is Editor-in-Chief of Yad Vashem Studies
Department for Teacher-Training in Israel, and Senior Historian, International Institute for
Following the passage of the Nuremberg Holocaust Research.
International School for Holocaust Studies.
Laws in September 1935, the SPSL became
research 9
International Research Conferences
The Perception of Time
during the Holocaust
■ Time is a central notion in modern life. around Hitler and his perceived achievements. In
It is what allows people to build their days, to his keynote address, Prof. Guy Miron, Director
plan, and to organize. Time can be taken or lost, of the Center for Research on the Holocaust
wasted or gained. It can feel like it is crawling in Germany at Yad Vashem's International
or standing still. But it cannot be stopped. If Research Institute and the Open University of
many philosophers have wondered about how Israel, described this “Nazification of time.” By
to escape time, all agree that controlling one’s 1939, for example, 20 April, the birthday of
time is, in effect, controlling one’s life. the Führer, became a national holiday known
■ Pocket watch on which Yeshayahu Markowitz
of Szilágysomlyó, Transylvania, pasted the
photographs of his children in order of birth. On
the eve of the family׳s deportation, he entrusted
the watch to a Christian friend. Yeshayahu and his
wife Esther, along with four of their children and
four grandchildren, were murdered immediately
upon their arrival in Auschwitz | Yad Vashem
Artifacts Collection, Loaned by David Marks, Sherman,
Connecticut, USA
it. As Prof. Miron explained: “Jews suffered the
notion of German time, without knowing what
awaited them, and when."
■ Calendar of the Jewish year 5704 (1943-44) produced by Asher Berlinger in Theresienstadt | Yad Vashem In the 1930s, Kurt Rosenberg, a prominent
Artifacts Collection Jewish Hamburg lawyer, kept a diary reporting
on daily life under the Nazis. In 1935, already
At the end of December 2018, Yad as Führergeburtstag; 30 January marked the aware of the lack of a future for the Jews of
Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust accession to power of Hitler; and 9 November Germany, he insisted: “We live in a future
Research held its biennial international commemorated his putsch in Bavaria, as well without horizon, to wait and wait again, without
conference on “The Time Dimension During as the Kristallnacht pogrom. The regime thus any certainty of the outcome."
and Regarding the Holocaust: In Real Time multiplied anniversaries and commemorations, Therefore, with their lack of control
and in Retrospect.” Researchers from Israel, and appropriated others, which were suddenly over linear time, Jews, even those removed
Serbia, Macedonia, Germany, France, the US, linked to the ideology of National Socialism. from religion, began to show an even closer
Hungary, Australia and Portugal gathered The revised, saturated calendar clearly attachment to their own calendar. From 1933,
in Yad Vashem’s Auditorium to discuss illustrated the obsession of time for the Nazis, with the advent of National Socialism, German
several aspects of this relatively new topic who were invested with a mission they wished Jews united around their specific historical
in Holocaust historiography. swiftly to accomplish. “Nazism opposed celebrations, and found comfort in looking
Taking the reins of Germany in 1933, staticism, immobilism,” stated Prof. Miron. “It back at their past rather than forward to the
the Nazis imposed their own form of time was animated by a sense of immediacy." unknown and frightening future. “The more
management. Among their first prerogatives But in parallel with this frenzy of Nazi anti-Jewish policies intensified, the closer Jews
was the establishment of a new calendar, with action, Jews were confined to expectation, with were to their own calendar and the key dates that
the introduction of key dates, usually centered all the psychological influence that accompanies punctuated circular time,” noted Prof. Miron.
10 researchCultivating
Support
Jewish Leadership in Lithuanian Ghettos
Nathalie Blau Dr. Arkadi Zeltser
“The calendar symbolized the life cycle, the ■ “The intelligentsia continued to play a
family, and community markers,” said Dr. David prominent, even outsized role… One can talk
Silberklang, Senior Historian at the International about an intellectual leadership of the Vilna
Institute for Holocaust Research, also a keynote ghetto, which was parallel to the political
speaker at the conference. “Controlling your leadership of the Judenrat and ghetto chief
time is reassuring. Every free individual knows Jacob Gens. The intellectual leadership exerted
when he gets up, goes to work, goes to bed. considerable influence over public life and public
It gives a feeling of protection and control. In opinion, so much so that the political leadership ■ Dr. Yitzhak Arad addressed the conference
contrast, when Jews arrived at the camps, they showed deference toward the intellectuals and participants
were deprived of control over their lives – all tried to cultivate their support.”
ghetto, including Herman Kruk, a member of the
time management was taken away from them.” So claimed Prof. David E. Fishman of the
autonomist social democratic Bund, and Zionist
This phenomenon, Dr. Silberklang explained, Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) of America
Zelig Kalmanovich. Later, similar interactions
also touched those confined for days, months, at a recent international conference on Jewish
between different political movements became
and even years in hiding places – sometimes in leadership in the Lithuanian ghettos. The
characteristic in the underground FPO (United
total darkness, unable to discern day from night. conference was held by the Moshe Mirilashvili
Partisan Organization). Such cooperation, a
Continually dependent on their savior, never Center for Research on the Holocaust in the
rare phenomenon in the prewar period, became
knowing exactly if and when they were going Soviet Union at Yad Vashem’s International
normal in the ghetto.
to come, time took on a whole new meaning. Institute for Holocaust Research.
In his keynote lecture, Prof. Christoph
It is undoubtedly for this reason that, despite
Dieckmann (University of Bern), a prominent
the restrictions and dangers involved, whether on
researcher on the Holocaust in Lithuania,
the run, in the camps or in the ghettos, many Jews
contextualized the topic in the framework
created calendars, wrote diaries and compiled
of the relations of German and Lithuanian
letters. These were often marked with dates of
administrations on the one side and the Jewish
tragic events – murders, deportations and edicts:
leadership of the ghettos on the other. Former
Yad Vashem Chairman Dr. Yitzhak Arad, a
Jews found comfort in leading historian of the Holocaust of the Jews
looking back at their past in the USSR and former ghetto prisoner and
Jewish partisan, spoke about the difficult moral
rather than forward to the ■ Yiddish authors Avraham Sutzkever and dilemmas people had to face in everyday life,
Shmaryahu Kacherginski on the balcony of their
unknown and frightening ghetto apartment, July 1943, Vilna, Lithuania and how the position of the ghetto leadership
| Yad Vashem Archives influenced the Jews of the ghetto.
future The dilemmas and obstacles found in the
The topic of Jewish leadership in the wartime
Lithuanian ghettos were also covered by Prof.
“They wanted to keep a certain notion of time ghettos implies a more multifaceted understanding
Dalia Ofer (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem),
for the future, to leave a trace, a testimony, so of the phenomenon than simple research of
who discussed the Jewish police in the Kovno
that the world and their descendants could know Judenräte or Jewish police activities. As in
ghetto; and the Research Institute’s Dr. Lea Prais,
what had really happened – and when – once normative communities, Jewish life in the
who examined informal leadership among the
everything was over," said Dr. Silberklang. ghettos embraced many sides of communal
youth in the ghetto through the presentation of
Of course, after liberation, survivors often life, including formal and semi-formal groups.
the wartime diary of 18-year-old Ilya Gerber.
described themselves as being “reborn” – some Researchers from Switzerland, Lithuania, the US
“We – the youth – meet up almost every evening
would even celebrate birthdays dating from their and Israel convened at Yad Vashem in November
to enjoy ourselves just like little children,” Gerber
release from Nazi enslavement. Time was now 2018 to discuss these and other characteristics of
wrote in September 1942. “For us, the ghetto is
accelerated, as life was rapidly renewed in the leadership activities amongst Jews imprisoned
not a ghetto: We don’t feel it amongst ourselves;
DP camps, testimony hurriedly gathered, and in Lithuanian ghettos during WWII – including
we don’t want to feel like we are living behind
commemorative days swiftly installed in new the intellectual leadership upon which Prof.
barbed wire, isolated from the rest of the world
calendars. Time was, once again, under their Fishman chose to focus.
and the rest of humanity.” Gerber was shot and
own control, and they were determined to make Analyzing the role of Jewish intellectuals
killed during a forced march from Dachau in April
use of every minute. in the life of the Vilna ghetto, Prof. Fishman
1945. He was not yet 21 years old.
The Conference was generously supported by pointed out their participation in saving
the Gertner Center for International Holocaust The author is Director of the Moshe Mirilashvili
Jewish historical documents and rare books. Center for Research on the Holocaust in the Soviet
Conferences and the Gutwirth Family Fund.
He emphasized the centrality of the library as a Union, International Institute for Holocaust Research.
The author is Content Coordinator of the French model for cooperation of different forces in the
Website, Digital Department, Communications Division. 11Keeping the Hope Alive
Research Workshop on the Search for Missing Relatives after WWII
■ “I am alive and I am free. After three torturous were still alive. The communication with others Dr. Emunah Nachmany-Gafny, an Israeli
years I am back to being a man like all others. who knew them or may have witnessed the events independent researcher, gave a moving
The German bastards have murdered my entire was an important part of the journey. The search presentation on children searching for relatives –
family. Lyuba and Arik are no longer with me. was arguably a first step in their rehabilitation.” and vice-versa – in Poland after the war. In
I still hope to find them.” In her lecture on “First Letters as an Avenue most cases, she pointed out, those caring for the
Hirsh Brik (father of future Israeli Chief Justice of Locating Missing Relatives,” the co-author of children during the war, as well as other adults
Aharon Barak), Kovno, September 1944 After So Much Pain and Anguish and Director searching for them, were crucial to the child’s
of the Research Institute Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvieto postwar fate. Information reaching Eretz Israel
“While probing around for the fate of my
agreed. “The acts of searching and discovery cast was publicized and leads passed on to local and
relatives here in Belgium, I encountered Mr.
the survivors in an active position and returned Jewish organizations acting in Europe. This
Mendel Toder, a relative of yours. I promised
to them a sense of agency – even though most of process sometimes led to the child’s “redemption״
him that I would inform you that, by God’s
the searches led to devastating news or no news from his or her adoptive home, despite the often-
grace, the following are safe and sound: Mendel,
at all. By telling the world of their survival, as painful separation this entailed – although, she
Chava, Miriam, Rosele, and Mother […] May
well as including descriptions of their wartime argued, ultimately many of the children remained
God privilege me with delivering much good
and postwar experiences, the survivors were with their rescuers.
news to my fellow sons of Israel and may we
beginning their long journey towards coming
merit full redemption soon.”
British soldier Moshe Kasser, December 1944
to terms with the magnitude of their loss and The sheer numbers of missing
beginning to rebuild their new lives.”
These two quotes, taken from After So Much Pain Dr. Nidam-Orvieto pointed out that many
persons after the war and
and Anguish: First Letters after the Holocaust of the first letters, which were gleaned from the uncertainty of their fates
(Yad Vashem, 2016), succinctly illustrate the the Yad Vashem Archives as well as its ongoing
desperate need by survivors and their relatives “Gathering the Fragments” campaign, included called for governments to
to receive news of who was still alive – and who lists of those known to the writer to have died, search for solutions beyond
was not – in the immediate aftermath of WWII. as well as those joyfully understood to be alive.
In mid-December 2018, the Diana and Eli Some survivors, as well as Jewish soldiers in the private sphere
Zborowski Center for the Study of the Aftermath
of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem’s International Serafima (Sima) Velkovich, from the Reference
Institute for Holocaust Research held a two-day and Information Department in Yad Vashem’s
international workshop entitled “Searching for Archives Division, covered the modern-day
Each Other: Survivors’ Attempts in the Postwar challenges of locating information on survivors –
Period to Locate Missing Relatives and Friends.” which in rare situations have led to reunions
Researchers hailing from Israel, Hungary, between siblings, cousins and more distant
Romania, Germany, the Netherlands and the relatives after decades of separation. Utilizing
United States gave a wide overview of the topic, digitized records and lists, Velkovich is often
including the establishment of formal tracing stymied by changes of birthdates, locations and
bureaus as well as survivor-led initiatives and the even names for survivors and victims, depending
creation of local and regional informal networks in on their location at the time the information
the effort to spread and receive news of survivors was given. For example, many concentration
in the chaos of the early postwar period. camp inmates would adjust their dates of birth
“Searching for relatives and friends after in order to survive selections, or survivors
the war was a first impulse for many of the ■ Near and Far newspaper from April 1946, would give alternative home addresses in DP
showing the names of Holocaust survivors and lists camps to avoid being transferred back to the
survivors,” explained Zborowski Center Director of missing relatives | Yad Vashem Archives
Dr. Sharon Kangisser-Cohen. “It was almost postwar USSR. Velkovich always tries to find
the natural thing to do – to find out if anyone Europe, even found themselves becoming the clues as to the real identity of people – using
had survived. Institutions like the International relaters of news concerning people they did not photos (if available), Russian/Jewish variations
Tracing Service (ITS) evolved over time and know, in order to be able to pass the tidings on of names, and even certain kinds of phraseology
were of great use to the survivors, but it seems to those searching for their own relatives and to decipher the real meaning behind information
that the survivors themselves went on their own friends. “Despite often devastating rumors that given to the relevant authorities. “Yad Vashem’s
journey – physically traversing Europe to find circulated amongst the survivors and their relatives extensive databases play a central role in my
out if anyone had survived, as well as contacting abroad, they kept the hope alive that they would work, along with any other source that may help –
anyone they could think of to let them know they eventually be reunited with their loved ones.” including phone directories and Facebook – to
12 research"The survivors went on their own journey – physically
traversing Europe to find out if anyone had survived
Winners of the
as well as contacting anyone they could think of to let International
them know they were still alive."
Dr. Sharon Kangisser-Cohen
Book Prize
Leah Goldstein ■ The Yad Vashem International Book Prize for
Holocaust Research in Memory of Benny and
Tilly Joffe z”l was awarded to two recipients this
numbers of missing persons after the war and the year: Dr. Daniel Reiser of the Herzog College and
uncertainty of their fates called for governments Safed Academic College for Rabbi Kalonymus
to search for solutions beyond the private sphere. Kalmish Shapira: Sermons from the Years of
Dr. Christian Hoschler of the International Tracing Rage; and Dr. Ion Popa of the University of
Service (ITS) gave a detailed history of the early Manchester for The Romanian Orthodox Church
efforts of both survivors and centralized bureaus and the Holocaust. The award ceremony took
to find missing relatives and friends. While many place on 17 December 2018 in Yad Vashem’s
survivors in the DP camps took matters into their Auditorium, in the presence of Yad Vashem
own hands in the frenzied postwar period – issuing Chairman Avner Shalev; Dusia and Yochanan
certificates and making lists in order to publicize Kretchmer and Ora Sharon, representatives of the
the knowledge they had collated – within a few Joffe family; and the Directorate of Yad Vashem’s
years this activity had been swallowed up by the International Institute for Holocaust Research.
larger, more centralized organizations such as the The Book Prize Committee called Reiser’s
Joint Distribution Committee, the United Nations book “a major contribution to both Holocaust
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) scholarship and the history of Jewish thought… it
and the regional offices of the International undoubtedly represents the final word regarding
Red Cross, which eventually gave way to the this text.”
ITS in Bad Arolsen, central-western Germany. The Romanian Orthodox Church and the
Dr. Verena Buser of the Selma Stern Center for Holocaust was described as “a path-breaking
Jewish Studies in Berlin-Brandenburg outlined the book [...] the first study to analyze this topic
unprecedented difficulties faced by the postwar systematically, using new materials and opening
search bureaus, as survivors were not stationary – the way to other researchers to come."
they moved around the continent in search of The Yad Vashem International Book Prize for
missing relatives and, often, wartime friends. “One Holocaust Research in Memory of Benny and
Tilly Joffe z”l was generously supported by Brian
■ Letter written after the war by Holocaust survivor of the things we failed utterly to predict was the and Lee Joffe.
Tonia Kaplan (née Wolnerman) from Haifa, searching resilience of human beings,” she quoted Eileen
for information regarding her father Natan and her Blackey, Director of UNRRA’s Child Search and
sisters Fela and Renia | Yad Vashem Archives
Repatriation, as saying. “When we moved into
enable me to track down as much information Germany, the roads were completely congested
as possible.” with cars and people trying to get home.”
Not always did the search for survivors Despite the fact that in many instances
lead to positive actions. Angela Boone of survivors received information that their loved
the Free University of Amsterdam gave an ones had died, many of the papers at the workshop
intriguing account of “Operation Black Tulip” – spoke of the survivors’ continued hope to find
the devastating postwar policy by the Dutch someone alive – even in the present day. Dr. Susan
Ministry of Justice to deport and expropriate Urban, Director of the ShUM (Speyer, Worms and
all German and Austrian nationals from the Mainz) Cities on the Rhine-Jewish World Heritage
Netherlands as “enemies of the state.” Many of Association, tackled the heartbreaking continued
the “exportees” were themselves Jewish, victims search for missing relatives and friends, borne by
of Nazi persecution, who now found themselves survivors until their dying day. Even though over
“triply persecuted” by the Dutch government, the decades more and more information became
which re-interned them in camps – sometimes available, many survivors never gave up hope of
even alongside their former Nazi guards. A finding more details, more evidence and more
significant amount of the records pertaining to closure to their loved ones’ stories. In an effort to
this operation are still unavailable – they were hold on to their past lives, commemorate those
■ International Research Book Prize winners Dr. Daniel
either destroyed or remain closed. who were lost or even to build a more meaningful Reiser (top, second from left) and Dr. Ion Popa (bottom,
Some of the researchers tackled the history future, Urban concluded that “the search never second from right) with Yad Vashem Chairman Avner
and motivation of the various tracing services ended, as long as the survivors clung on to the Shalev (right), International Research Institute Director
Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvieto (left), and representatives of the
after the war. Dr. Tehilla Malka Darmon of the anchor of their past.”
Joffe family Ora Sharon (top, second from right) and
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev looked at the The workshop was generously supported by the Dusia Kretchmer (bottom, second from left).
political aspects of these organizations – the sheer Gutwirth Family Fund.
13You can also read
