New Holocaust History Museum in Israel

Monday, 19 September 2005 10:41

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL.- Crowning a multi-year redevelopment plan, Yad Vashem will inaugurated its new Holocaust History Museum . The new Museum, some 10 years in the making, will replace the current historical museum at Yad Vashem. Heads of State and government from at least 15 countries, as well as United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and dozens of other nations’ leaders and dignitaries, joined Israeli President Moshe Katzav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Education Minister Limor Livnat in inaugurating the new Museum and then participated in a special assembly at Yad Vashem the following morning. The New Holocaust History Museum was inaugurated first with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon, followed by official tours of the Museum and a ceremony that evening, featuring Katsav, Sharon, Livnat, Annan, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Prof. Shevach Weiss and Nobel Laureate Prof. Elie Wiesel. Four times the size of the current Historical Museum, the New Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem will have two dimensions, informational and experiential. The New Museum will use many artifacts in telling the story, alongside the documentary element familiar in the current museum. It will try to tell both the macro story and the micro stories of individuals and small groups, stressing the personal story in the historical and thematic narrative. The New Holocaust History Museum covers some 4,200 square meters. The New Museum is Yad Vashem’s main platform for imparting the legacy of the Shoah to visitors. It tells the story of the Shoah from the point of view of the Jews; the victims are the focus, instead of being portrayed as anonymous objects being acted upon by their persecutors. Visitors will leave with a wider perspective on the protection of humanity’s basic values and Jewish continuity. The new Holocaust History Museum is a revolution in Holocaust memory. Making the individual victim the center of its story, the Museum weaves more than 90 personal stories into a thematic and historical narrative. Using authentic artifacts, testimonies, documentary evidence, archival sources, films, art and even music, the museum tells the story of the Holocaust through the voice of the individual. “It is impossible to understand the Holocaust and absorb its meaning without learning about those who were most directly affected – the Jews,” explains Avner Shalev, who is also Chief Curator of the New Museum. “As such, we have made every effort to present a full picture of the Shoah – every artifact, document, story and picture that would give the visitor a sense of what the Shoah was and who the people were who experienced it was carefully considered. With more than 2,500 items in the museum, we tried to include both the unique and the representative.” The Museum also uses genuine artifacts to give visitors an impression of the world that existed at the time. Near the beginning of the narrative, for example, visitors can walk around a typical living room of a Jewish family in Germany during the 1930s, recreated from belongings donated by a number of such families. Aside from artifacts, the exhibits also include some 100 video screens showing original film clips from before and during the Shoah, new survivor testimonies, and short documentaries produced specifically for the new Museum. World-renowned architect Moshe Safdie designed a unique building for the new Museum. “The story of the Holocaust has no equal,” Safdie says. “I felt that it cannot be accommodated in a conventional building. I wanted it to be like an archeological remnant. Responding to Yad Vashem's request to preserve the pastoral character of the Mount of Remembrance, and that the Hall of Remembrance – the focus of commemoration of past years – maintain its centrality, I conceived of a prism-like structure that cuts through the mountain from the south, extending 200 meters to the north.”

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