Holocaust Commemoration in Israel During the 1950s: The Holocaust Cellar on Mount Zion

Abstract

t the end of World War II, once the magnitude of the Holocaust became clear, Jews—organizations and individuals— began thinking about the most suitable ways to commemorate it.1 One of the first commemoration sites for the Holocaust’s victims was the Holocaust Cellar (Martef ha-Shoah). It is situated on Mount Zion, near King David’s Tomb2 overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, which, at the time of the site’s construction, was under Jordanian rule. The establishment and development of the Holocaust Cellar, mainly by the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ director general Shmuel Zanwil Kahana, was part of a broader process of sanctifying Mount Zion and King David’s Tomb and turning them into the central holy place in the State of Israel.3 The activity in the Holocaust Cellar during the 1950s centered on traditional Jewish commemoration and was fundamentally different from the commemorational activities in other sites in the State of Israel; moreover, it was totally distinct from Yad Vashem, which was developed at around the same period but emphasized national-secular A