20 July 2015
On Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Croatian film producer and Holocaust survivor Branko Lustig will present to Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev the Oscar awarded to him by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Schindler's List, Best Picture of 1993. The Oscar will be displayed in Yad Vashem's Visual Center – the world's digital film library for Holocaust related films.
The event will take place during the official visit to Yad Vashem by Croatian President H.E. Ms. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The President will tour the Holocaust History Museum, visit the Visual Center, participate in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, visit the Children’s Memorial and sign the Yad Vashem Guest Book.
Following the signing of the Guest Book, a joint declaration on Holocaust commemoration and education between Yad Vashem and Croatia will be signed. After the signing, a special symposium on "Holocaust Memory in Film" will take place in cooperation with the Embassy of Croatia. Film producer and Holocaust survivor Branko Lustig, Croatian President H.E. Ms. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev will speak at the event. Liat Benhabib, Director of the Visual Center will also present a lecture on "Reflections: Holocaust Memory in Film." The event will take place in the Auditorium.
Media coverage of the visit and event are as follows:
Hall of Names: Photo – op: POOL
Visual Center: Photo – op: POOL
Memorial ceremony, Hall of Remembrance: OPEN
Children’s Memorial, Signing of the Guest Book: Photo – op: OPEN
Signing of Declaration: CLOSED
Presentation Event: OPEN
Media who are interested in covering the visit and the event must RSVP to media.relations@yadvashem.org.il or 02 6443410/3135, and arrive at the Hall of Remebrance, with valid GPO card by 10:45 AM.
Branko Lustig was born in Osijek, Croatia to a Jewish family. During WWII, he was imprisoned in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen for two years. After liberation he was reunited with his mother. The majority of his family members were killed in the death camps. A renowned film producer based in Croatia and Hollywood, Lustig has produced many prominent films and mini-series and won a number of prestigious awards, including two Oscars (Schindler's List and Gladiator).
The Yad Vashem Visual Center collects, catalogues and preserves Holocaust-related films of all genres. The Collection comprises 10,000 titles from all over the world, as well as tens of thousands of survivor testimonies, recorded by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute established by Steven Spielberg, and by Yad Vashem. All of the testimonies and most of the films in the Collection are available for viewing at the Visual Center. The Visual Center's film database is available online,
Contact: Media Relations /International Media Desk / Communications Division / Yad Vashem / +972 2 644 3410/3135
