French PM at Yad Vashem

Prime Minister Valls took a keen interest in the many individual testimonies and stories stationed throughout the Holocaust History Museum
For more pictures click here

23 May 2016

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited Yad Vashem today, Monday, 23 May 2016. Guided by Irena Steinfeldt, Director of Yad Vashem's Righteous Among the Nations Department, the Prime Minister toured the Holocaust History Museum, participated in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, visited the Children's Memorial and signed the Yad Vashem Guest Book.

The Prime Minster was accompanied by a delegation that included Minister of State Jean-Marie Le Guen and members of the French parliament, Ambassador of France to Israel H.E. Mr Patrick Maisonnave, Chairman of CRIF Roger Cukierman, Chairman of the French-Israeli Chamber of Commerce Henri Cukierman, Chairman of the French Friends of Yad Vashem Pierre-Francois Veil, Director of Yad Vashem's French-Speaking Countries and Benelux Desk Miry Gross, family members of victims of the 2012 Toulouse terror attack, renowned Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, and filmmaker Alexandre Arcady.

In the Yad Vashem Guest Book, Prime Minister Valls wrote: "Never allow oblivion and silence to efface the truth of the Shoah." Afterwards, he called Yad Vashem "a place of memory, mourning and a testimony to the insanity of Mankind... To visit Yad Vashem is... to reflect, but also to mark the defeat of this barbarism and its infamous plan. It is to shed tears, but also to overcome."

Prime Minister Valls took a keen interest in the many individual testimonies and stories stationed throughout the Holocaust History Museum

The delegation was fascinated to view the exhibit on the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its surroundings, whose residents saved Jewish families during the Holocaust

Left to right: Irena Steinfeldt, Serge Klarsfeld, Pierre-Francois Veil, Prime Minister Valls, Miry Gross and Beate Klarsfeld in the Hall of Names

The French Prime Minister with members of his esteemed delegation heard about the Hall of Names, which today contains 4.6 million names of Holocaust victims

The Holocaust History Museum features original photographs and artifacts from before and during World War II

Prime Minister Valls was honored to rekindle the Eternal Flame in the Hall of Remembrance

The Prime Minister laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance in memory of the six million Holocaust victims

Righteous Among the Nations Department Director Irena Steinfeldt presented the Prime Minister with a branch from the tree honoring French Righteous Among the Nations Dr. Adelaide Hautval