14 December 2010
An international conference exploring “Hiding, Sheltering and Borrowing Identities as Avenues of Rescue During the Holocaust” will take place at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research next week.
Researchers from a dozen countries will explore such issues as the motivation behind rescue, repercussions of hiding for so many years, Jews rescuing Jews, nannies as rescuers, bounty hunters, hiding in exchange for money, how the Gestapo treated people discovered hiding Jews, rescuers facing the courts, coping with informants, day to day life in hiding, Righteous Among the Nations, and more.
“This important conference looks both at individual countries and episodes of rescue as case studies, while at the same time offering a closer look at the broad issues that are true for the overall phenomenon,” said Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem.
The conference brings together researchers from Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Nigeria, Poland, Serbia and the United States.
“Rescue during the Holocaust is a significant topic in Holocaust research,” said Prof. Dan Michman, Chief Historian of Yad Vashem. “Yet, in the past, research has focused primarily on efforts at rescue by governments, organizations and the Righteous Among the Nations. The goal of this conference is to look at new aspects of research about rescue and efforts at rescue throughout Europe, and especially on the grassroots level: conditions, circumstances and methods of action of individuals and organizations.”
The three-day conference, December 19-21, 2010 will take place in Hebrew and English (with simultaneous translation) at the Yad Vashem Auditorium and is open to the press and the public. It is taking place with the generous support of the Gertner Center for International Holocaust Conferences and the Gutwirth Family Fund and is part of the ongoing research projects, workshops and conferences on various issues related to the Holocaust of the International Institute for Holocaust Research.
Media interested in covering the conference are requested to coordinate with the Media Relations Dept.: 02 644 3410. media.relations@yadvashem.org.il
