02 October 2018
The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany H.E. Dr. Angela Merkel will visit Yad Vashem on Thursday, 4 October 2018.
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev will accompany the Chancellor through the Holocaust History Museum as well as the Hall of Names. The Chancellor will also participate in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, visit the Children's Memorial and sign the Yad Vashem Guest Book.
There will be photo-ops in the Hall of Names, Hall of Remembrance and at the signing of the Guest Book outside the Children's Memorial.
Media coverage for this visit is pooled.
International Media Stills: Debbie Hill/UPI
International Media TV: Andrea Bernardi/AFP TV
On Thursday, 4 October, journalists must arrive for security check at the Visual Center with a valid GPO card, by 06:30. No media will be permitted to enter Yad Vashem after 07:00.
About Yad Vashem:
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, was established by the Israeli Parliament in 1953. Located in Jerusalem, Israel, Yad Vashem is dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, documentation, research and education. Through its International School for Holocaust Studies, International Institute for Holocaust Research, Archives, Museums and Libraries, Yad Vashem has become the global center for gathering and disseminating information about the Holocaust and seeks to meaningfully impart the legacy of the Shoah for generations to come.
Holocaust History Museum
The Holocaust History Museum combines the best of Yad Vashem’s expertise, resources and state-of-the-art exhibits to take Holocaust remembrance well into the 21st century. Opened in 2005, the Holocaust History Museum occupies over 4,200 square meters, mainly underground. Both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, it presents the story of the Shoah from a unique Jewish perspective, emphasizing the experiences of the individual victims through original artifacts, survivor testimonies, personal possessions and artwork created during the Holocaust.
Hall of Names
Located at the end of the Holocaust History Museum, the Hall of Names is dedicated to permanently preserving the names of all six million Holocaust victims, most of whom never received a Jewish burial. Yad Vashem has been fulfilling this mission since its establishment, archiving Pages of Testimony that memorialize the names and biographical details of every Jewish man, woman and child murdered in the Holocaust. In an effort to retrieve all the names, they are collected from every possible source – family members, acquaintances, archival documents and community memorial endeavours. To date, Yad Vashem has collected over 4,700,000 names of Holocaust victims. These names have been made available to the public via Yad Vashem's website through the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names in six languages. Yad Vashem's Names Recovery Project will continue until every Holocaust victim is remembered - each one an entire world that existed and was destroyed.
Hall of Remembrance
The Hall of Remembrance was the first commemoration site established at Yad Vashem on the Mount of Remembrance, in 1961. Its walls are made of basalt boulders brought from the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee, and its angular roof gives it a tent-like shape. Engraved on the mosaic floor are the names of 22 Nazi murder sites, symbolic of the hundreds of extermination and concentration camps, transit camps and killing sites that existed throughout Europe. The Eternal Flame continuously illuminates the Hall, its smoke exiting the building through an opening at the highest point of the ceiling. Before it stands a crypt containing the ashes of Holocaust victims.
