Recent Visits

02 August 2015

High-ranking government ministers from Europe and North America have recently visited Yad Vashem. Many left poignant messages in the Yad Vashem Guest Book. "I was deeply humbled by my visit here today," wrote UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond. "The Shoah was a devastating blot on human history. That is why, by law, every child in Britain studies the Holocaust as part of our National Curriculum."

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter inscribed: "My country will never forget the tragedy recorded here, and that memory is a buttress for our long and everlasting relationship as friends and security partners."

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders wrote: "Discrimination and antisemitism are still alive today. We owe it to the millions who were murdered in the Holocaust to continue to fight this evil through remembering the past and by educating today."

Italian Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Matteo Renzi (second from right), Israel's Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (left), Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev (second from left) and Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvietto

Italian Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Matteo Renzi (second from right) was accompanied by Israel's Minister of Education Naftali Bennett (left), Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev (second from left) and Dr. Iael Nidam-Orvietto, Director of Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research, during his visit on 21 July

Canadian Foreign Minister The Hon. Robert Nicholson visited the Hall of Names on 3 June

Greek's Foreign Minister Nikolaos Kotzias (second from left) was guided through the Holocaust History Museum by Director of the Yad Vashem Libraries Dr. Robert Rozett

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders (second from right) was guided through the Holocaust History Museum by Nannie Beekman (right) of the Righteous Among the Nations Department

Poland's Foreign Minister Grzegorz Scheytna (left) was accompanied by Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev as he visited the tree dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations "Zegota" wartime rescue organization

The Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond MP, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (second from right), visited the Yad Vashem Synagogue, where rescued and restored Judaica from Europe is displayed

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter (3rd from left), Israel's Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon (left), Avner Shalev (4th from left), and Dr. David Silberklang, Senior Historian at the International Institute for Holocaust Research (second from left)

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter (third from left) was accompanied by Israel's Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon (left) and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev (fourth from left), and guided through the Holocaust History Museum by Dr. David Silberklang, Senior Historian at the International Institute for Holocaust Research (second from left)