“Generation to Generation” -- Survivors and their Families to Gather at Yad Vashem International, Multi-Generational Conference Scheduled for 60th Anniversary of End of World War II

Registration is underway for an international conference for Holocaust survivors and their families next spring at Yad Vashem. The weeklong gathering, “Generation to Generation: Sharing the Legacy,” is scheduled for May 4-9, 2005, and marks 60 years since the end of World War II. It is being held in partnership with the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel and under the patronage of Israeli President Moshe Katsav and Mrs. Gila Katsav.

Thousands of participants of all ages from around the world will come together to pay tribute to the survivors and to continue their legacy. For one remarkable and moving week, survivors and their families will share in a series of programs and events designed to make this gathering a truly memorable event.

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies at Yad Vashem; tour the new state-of-the-art Holocaust History Museum (officially opening March 2005); and attend intergenerational discussion groups on “Memory, Rebirth, Growth,” including “The World that Was”, “Passing the Torch”, “Keeping Memories Alive” and “Children with Assumed Identities: Returning to Judaism.” A special evening in tribute to Holocaust survivors at the IDF Armored Corps Memorial Complex at Latrun will close the conference on May 9, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of the war. The event will be the official Israeli commemoration of VE-Day.

Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Avner Shalev, stressed the importance of the conference. “From the testimony of Holocaust survivors, we draw a meaning that strengthens our basic values. The survivors, who illuminated this message, bequeath this torch to us so that we can continue to bear it and pass it on to generations to come,” he said.

The conference is taking place with the cooperation of Holocaust museums and institutes around the world as well as the various Friends of Yad Vashem. Registration for the conference is through Unitours. More information is available at: www.yadvashem.org.