"….If not for the fateful decision [of Yitzhak] to send my parents to Eretz Yisrael I wouldn’t have survived and even today I feel that I owe my life to him. All that remains of him is this Mahzor (Holiday prayerbook) inscribed in his handwriting. It’s as if it is his tombstone."
Chaya Tepper, grand-daughter of Yitzhak Kurant from Przytyk, Poland, in the covering letter she wrote when she donated the Mahzor to Yad Vashem
The Artifacts Collection of Yad Vashem’s Museum includes more than 27,000 items that were donated over the years by Holocaust survivors or their families, as well as artifacts received from various organizations in Israel and abroad. The collection includes a wide variety of artifacts connected to the events that unfolded in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century, that .
Since the establishment of Yad Vashem, individuals and assorted organizations have donated Holocaust related artifacts. In the first decades, the artifacts were preserved in the Archives until the establishment of a separate artifacts collection in the Museums Division. From 1995, under the direction of Haviva Peled-Carmeli, the artifacts collection expanded and developed through her enthusiastic efforts.
In recent years much emphasis has been placed on collecting artifacts that document the daily life of Jews in the shadow of annihilation, focusing on children’s games, artifacts created in the camps, artifacts testifying to spiritual endurance and artifacts demonstrating the struggle to live a normal life in a difficult, if not impossible, reality.
Loaning Artifacts from Yad Vashem’s Artifacts Collection
It is common practice for museums around the world to loan their collections for temporary display and the Yad Vashem Museum is no exception. The loan can take place only if the artifact is not being displayed at Yad Vashem, and must comply with our requirements regarding display, care and security.
Items from the Artifacts Collection have been displayed in Holocaust-related exhibitions in Poland, Germany, the United States, Japan and France.
Contact the Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection filling this online form or call us: +972 (2) - 6443598.
Collection and Conservation of Artifacts
