04 July 2024
On Monday, 8 July 2024, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center will mark the inauguration of the new Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus with The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center at its heart. The inauguration ceremony will be attended by Israel’s President H.E. Mr. Isaac Herzog, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council and Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan. Representatives of the Moshal and Shapell families, as well as numerous other generous donors and dignitaries will also be in attendance. This historic event marks a significant milestone in the preservation and commemoration of Holocaust history.
Chairman Dani Dayan stated"
"The inauguration of the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus and the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center is a monumental achievement in our ongoing mission to preserve the history and legacy of the Holocaust. This facility ensures that future generations will have access to the personal stories and historical documents that are vital to understanding and remembering the atrocities of the past. We are deeply grateful to the Moshal and Shapell families and all our supporters, for their unwavering commitment to this cause."
The event will start at 09:30 in the Safra Auditorium of the International Institute for Holocaust Studies (formerly known as the International School for Holocaust Studies)
Journalists and photographers interested in attending the event should register in advance.
The previous evening, Sunday, 7 July 2024, Yad Vashem will be hosting a commemorative concert at the Jerusalem Theater marking the inauguration of the new Campus and Collections Center. This event will feature performances by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Neve Shir Women's Choir and Violins of Hope. Additionally, there will be a special performance by IDF reservist Mordechai Shenvald, who was injured in November 2023 in Gaza during Operation Iron Sword. Mordechai, who's grandfather was liberated from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in January 1945, will perform using a violin that once belonged to Motele Schlein, a 12-year-old Jewish partisan who fought in the forests of against the German Nazis. Motale witnessed the murder of his family while hiding in an attic. Grabbing his violin, he fled to the forest where he joined the Partisans. When German soldiers ambushed his unit, Motale hurried to warn the fighters. Motale, unfortunately,was shot and wounded. With his final breath he asked "Will I get to see my parents and sister now?" His violin was saved by a fellow Partisan and donated to Yad Vashem, with a request that it continue to be played for future generations ̶ proof that the Nazis did not succeed in silencing the soulful melodies of Motale's violin. Motale's story and violin have found their eternal home as part of Yad Vashem's vast Artifacts Collection and is on permanent display in the Holocaust History Museum.
For photos of the new Campus and Collections Center please click here.
