Yad Vashem Research Articles

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum: educational dark tourism in a futuristic form

This article utilizes the case of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as an illustration for setting a themed environment at a highly unconventional tourist site whose main goal is to serve as an educational memorial for the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people. Despite the seeming incongruity between the concept and application of theming, as formulated by Walt Disney, and commemoration of the Jewish Holocaust victims, the analysis demonstrates the usefulness of theming in serving the institution's objectives while orchestrating memorable visitor experiences. Notwithstanding the criticism and concerns related to such theming, we suggest that the example of Yad Vashem illustrates how well-conducted theming holds great potential for museums in general and dark tourism sites in particular by reaching broad audiences and emotionally engaged visitors. Conclusions and implications derived from the case study as well as suggestions for future studies are discussed.

The ‘Jewish narrative’ in the Yad Vashem global Holocaust museum

The 2005-inaugurated new historical museum of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is one of the most significant and influential global Holocaust memorial sites of the twenty-first century. At the same time, it is also a very local Israeli ‘lieu de mémoire’. This essay explores the interactions between these two levels of representation while suggesting a critical analysis of the museum's narrative. I contend that for various cultural and political reasons this museum encourages most of all identification with the Jewish victims. This morally necessary and very much justified empathy is achieved, however, in a way that blocks almost any nuanced historical understanding of the event. Thus by melancholic means the museum suppresses any ‘otherness’ that would make the story of the Shoah more complex, interrupt in the melodramatic processes of identification, and destabilize the identity of the Western (individual and collective) self. “Museums convey a sense of permanence, the idea of ‘collection’, as opposed to separation and loss. In a museum I feel that I belong, though nothing belongs to me… art and literature can be a home for those without citizenship, because they remind us of our common race, and they sop you up, yet simultaneously feed you like a magic sponge. They make you part of what you see and what you hear and yet let you stand back and choose. The various Shoah museums and reconstituted concentration camp sites do the exact opposite. That's why I find them so hard to take: they don't take you in, they spit you out. Moreover, they tell you what you ought to think, as no art or science museum ever does. They impede the critical faculty” (Ruth Kluger)1

The Real Problem in U.S.–Israeli Relations

Of all the foreign relationships of the United States, perhaps none is as closely watched and incessantly scrutinized as its relationship with Israel. Like a couple in counseling, U.S.—Israeli relations are the subject of endless analysis. Both supporters and critics are forever on the lookout for the slightest signs of tension or unease, with the former anguishing over them, and the latter celebrating. While there was little to pay attention to during the years of the Bush administration, given its tight and largely uncritical embrace of Israel, the tenure of the Obama administration has provided ample opportunities for U.S. —Israel watchers to speculate on the troubles between Washington and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. By now, the nature of this debate is entirely

Dan Michman . The Emergence of Jewish Ghettos during the Holocaust . Translated by Lenn J. Schramm . New York: Cambridge University Press. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem. 2011. Pp. viii, 191. $85.00.

Dan Michman . The Emergence of Jewish Ghettos during the Holocaust . Translated by Lenn J. Schramm . New York: Cambridge University Press. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem. 2011. Pp. viii, 191. $85.00.

Setting the Record Straight: The Arabs, Zionism, and the Holocaust

Setting the Record Straight: The Arabs, Zionism, and the Holocaust

Googling for Ghosts: A Meditation on Writers' Block, Mourning, and the Holocaust

The author describes her father's experience of being a Holocaust survivor and how his unfinished mourning contributed to her struggle with muteness, her own story being dwarfed by the magnitude of her father's losses. When her non-Jewish mother is chosen to be honored by Yad Vashem, the ceremony proves unexpectedly powerful. The witnessing by community, through the Internet, helps dissolve the shame and isolation, heals some of the trauma, and promotes greater psychological freedom. In creating this paper, the author memorializes her parents and her lost relatives, and succeeds in working through much that had haunted her.

Heroic Collective Action: A People's Blessing?

Is the tendency to think of heroism as the activity of an individual rather than of a collective merely a matter of prejudice? Perhaps the European revolutions of 1989 and the Arab Spring of 2011 will foster more careful scrutiny of that assumption. Are the heroic figures so often featured in journalistic as well as historical accounts only individuals who are witnesses to a communal transformation and empowerment? Will a greater appreciation for heroic collective action promote a more nuanced perspective on the development of Jewish-Christian relations? The author proposes a shift of focus to communal heroism through an examination of four examples: the Yad Vashem project of recognizing the "Righteous among the Nations"; the Hungarian Revolution; the historical development of religious toleration; and, finally, the place that the Holocaust has taken on in contemporary reflection.

Polnische „Gerechte unter den Völkern“ zwischen Moral und Politik

Polish Righteous Among the Nations – between moral and politics Since 1963 the Jewish Memorial Center Yad Vashem has honoured over 23,000 non-Jews with the title Righteous Among the Nations. These righteous civilians supported Jews and risked their lives during the period of National Socialism. Rescues occurring during that immediate time period have been the target of extensive research. Conversely, though, there have been almost no studies which closely examine the Post War period and the honouring of people during the Cold War. While attitudes in Eastern Bloc States were often hostile towards Israel’s post-war politics and even anti- Semitic, it is worth questioning if, and to what extent, e.g. the People’s Republic of Poland had an impact on the Israelis’ awarding their civilians. Notwithstanding, the main focus of this paper lies on the anti-Jewish campaign around 1968 and the subsiding of tensions in the 1970s. On the one hand, research was accomplished on the statistical rise in various years of honours and awards ceremonies. On the other hand, files of Yad Vashem have been analysed as well as articles of two Polish newspapers. In the 1960s it was feared that the Polish Righteous would suffer persecution through becoming well known for their commitment as rescuers of Jews. At the end of the 1960s these civilians could not even receive their honours because they were not issued with visas. Simultaneously, there were Polish press campaigns which, on the one side, celebrated Polish as rescuers of Jewish people, and on the other side portrayed “the Jews” as ungrateful. This double-edged use of highlighting the Polish helpers and at the same time suppressing the Israelis’ awarding is the central theme of this essay.

L’attitude de la population non-juive de Bessarabie et de Transnistrie envers les juifs pendant la Shoah le point de vue des rescapés

After a long period of silence and indifference, the last ten to fifteen years have shown a renewed interest in the history of the Holocaust in Romania as demonstrated by the great number of publications and international symposiums organized on the subject. Nevertheless, one element was almost systematically absent from the story : the reaction and role of the non-Jewish population during the tragedy. This article deals precisely with this question.Taking into consideration the fact that the number of living survivors is now very small and that they were only children at the time, the article relies on archival sources from Yad Vashem (Jerusalem) that contain a large number of interviews with survivors. The author examined 200 existing testimonies and collected 70 additional ones in preparation for this article.

Jean Ancel, In memoriam

Jean Ancel, the outstanding Israeli historian of the Romanian chapter of the Holocaust, died on April 30th, 2008, after a long illness. This article summarizes his essential contribution the study of Romania’s participation at the implementation of the Nazi “Final Solution” during the first years of the war against the Soviet Union, especially the anti-Jewish massacres in Bessarabia and Bukovina and the deportations to the camps and ghettos of Transnistria. Having spent many years as a researcher at Yad Vashem, he edited twelve volumes of Documents Concerning the Fate of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust (1986) and published a two-volume synthesis, History of the Holocaust : Romania (2002), three volumes of documents on Transnistria (2003), a comprehensive book on The Pogrom in Iasi, June 29, 1941 (2003). He also edited Wilhem Filderman’s Memoirs and Diaries (2004), as well as other volumes of documents and studies on the Antonescu’s radical anti-Semitic legislation and policy. His last book was on The Economic Destruction of Romanian Jewry (2007).

Passer la guerre à Cernauti (Czernowitz), juin 1941-mai 1945

This article deals with the fate of the Jews in Cernauti throughout the war. When Romanian and German troops came back, on July 5, 1941, thousands of Jews were murdered in the streets. Harsh anti-Jewish laws were quickly established and a ghetto was created on October 11, 1941 for the 60,000 Jews of the city. Then, more than 30,000 of them were deported to Transnistria in several waves. Thanks to the intervention of Traian Popovici, the Mayor of the city (recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem), 20,000 Jews could escape deportation and remain in Cernauti.

Ścisła pamięć o Zagładzie w Muzeum Historii Holokaustu w Yad Vashem. Odpowiedź na artykuł Amosa Goldberga

Abstrakt A polemic text toward Amos Goldberg’s Is there an “Other” in this (Yad Vashem New Holocaust) Museum?

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945, vol. I (parts A and B), Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA), Geoffrey P. Megargee, ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press in association with United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, 2009), xxxx + 1,659 pp., hardcover $295.00 * The Yad

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945, vol. I (parts A and B), Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps under the SS-Business Administration Main Office (WVHA), Geoffrey P. Megargee, ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press in association with United States Memorial Holocaust Museum, 2009), xxxx + 1,659 pp., hardcover $295.00 * The Yad

Holocaust Historiography in Context: Emergence, Challenges, Polemics and Achievements, David Bankier and Dan Michman, eds. (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, and New York: Berghahn Books, 2008), 614 pp., cloth $44.00

Holocaust Historiography in Context: Emergence, Challenges, Polemics and Achievements, David Bankier and Dan Michman, eds. (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, and New York: Berghahn Books, 2008), 614 pp., cloth $44.00

Perpetrators’ Self-Portrait

The article is a fragment of a more comprehensive study and at the same time a continuation of the subject originated in the article “The Participation of Poles in Crimes against Jews in the Świętokrzyski” (Yad Vashem Studies, 2007, No 35). By the thorough analysis of the files of several dozen trials that had taken place in the courts of Kielce during the 1940s and 1950s, I am looking for the answers for the questions focused on such issues as specific and diverse circumstances in which the crimes emerged (direct reasons and situational conditions), perpetrators (their profile based on such criteria as position/function, age, marital status, education, financial and social status, etc.), witnesses (both of the defendant and the plaintiff), and defense (the analysis of the defense strategies and arguments used during the investigation and the main trial, as well as the pleas for parole and other letters applied to defend the accused people). Special emphasis is going to be laid on the final issue—defense strategies of the perpetrators—which should enable the reconstruction of the then and, probably, still unchanged, attitude of the villagers of central Poland toward the crimes committed there and their victims.

Emunah Nachmany Gafny, Dividing Hearts: The Removal of Jewish Children from Gentile Families in Poland in the Immediate Post-Holocaust Years, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2009

Emunah Nachmany Gafny, Dividing Hearts: The Removal of Jewish Children from Gentile Families in Poland in the Immediate Post-Holocaust Years, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2009

The Lost Mural of Bruno Schulz: A Critical Legal Perspective on Control, Access to and Ownership of Art

When a forgotten mural painted by the Jewish-Polish artist Bruno Schulz was rediscovered in 2001 a string of legal issues were unravelled. Who could rightfully claim ownership to this work of art? Was it the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, because Schulz was a Jew killed by the Nazis, and because it is a museum that has the means, experience and know-how to restore and preserve the work properly? Or Ukraine on whose sovereign soil it had been found? Or Poland whose citizen Schulz had been? When five fragments of the newly discovered mural, which had already been restored to a certain extent by Polish conservationists, were taken to Israel by Yad Vashem representatives it resulted in political outrage. The incident illustrates how certain artistic works fall through the cracks in the law especially when it comes to the multi-faceted needs of the artworks in a globalised world. This article illustrates the weaknesses in various legislations dealing with ownership and access to art, mainly intellectual property law. It is argued that current regulation is sometimes ineffectual and must be discussed in order to cater for all the various aspects and needs of art and the public interest in it.

“I don’t want people laughing at me for hiding Jews at my place . . .” The Case of Zdzisław and Halina Krzyczkowski

On 25 May 1988 the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous of the Yad Vashem Institute decided to award Zdzisław and Halina Krzyczkowski the medal Righteous Among the Nations on the application of Marian Berland, who was hiding, together with four people, at the Krzyczkowskis’ place during the occupation. In his letter he wrote that “never throughout the entire period did they give us reasons to fear that they would denounce us or throw us out on the street. We survived that horrible time only thanks to them and their help.” However, Berland’s notes written in hiding reveal a totally different picture; the Krzyczkowskis are a couple of lumpenproletarians from Sienna Street, who constantly cheat and blackmail the Jews they are hiding

The death of the shtetl

In this book, Yehuda Bauer, an internationally acclaimed Holocaust historian, describes the destruction of small Jewish townships, the shtetls, in what was the eastern part of Poland by the Nazis in 1941-1942. Bauer brings together all available documents, testimonies, and scholarship, including previously unpublished material from the Yad Vashem archives, pertaining to nine representative shtetls. In line with his belief that is the story of real people in real situations, Bauer tells moving stories about what happened to individual Jews and their communities. Over a million people, approximately a quarter of all victims of the Holocaust, came from the shtetls. Bauer writes of the relations between Jews and non-Jews (including the actions of rescuers); he also describes attempts to create underground resistance groups, efforts to escape to the forests, and Jewish participation in the Soviet partisan movement. Bauer's book is a definitive examination of the demise of the shtetls, a topic of vast importance to the history of the Holocaust.

Educational dark tourism at an in populo site: The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem

Based on a study at Yad Vashem, the Shoah (Holocaust) memorial museum in Jerusalem, a new term— in populo—is proposed to describe dark tourism sites at a population and spiritual center of the people to whom a tragedy befell. Learning about the Shoah in Jerusalem offers a different but equally authentic encounter with the subject as visits to sites in Europe. It is argued that a dichotomy between ‘authentic’ sites at the location of a tragedy and ‘created’ sites elsewhere is insufficient. Participants’ evaluations of seminars for European teachers at Yad Vashem indicate that the location is an important aspect of a meaningful encounter with the subject. Implications for other cases of dark tourism at in populo locations are discussed.