25 January 2021
Despite the temporary closure of the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem as a result of the ongoing global health crisis, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is actively marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust through a range of online events and activities. January 27, chosen by the United Nations in 2005 to serve as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. "Seventy-six years later, the history and stories from the Holocaust are more relavent than ever," remarks Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. "Today, as the world continues to battle expressions of hatred, antisemitism and xenophobia, the significance and meanings of the Holocaust are particularly relevant."
Shalev will participate in Yad Vashem's annual symposium for the International Diploamtic Corps serving in Israel, this year to be held online due to the current lockdown in Israel. Israel's President H.E. Mr. Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin will address the participants and H.E. Ambassador Gil Haskel, Chief of State Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yad Vashem Senior Historian Dr. David Silberklang will also present a lecture, entitled "The Path from Mass Shootings to the Final Solution," relating to the central theme of the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day to be observed in Israel on April 8, 2021. The public is invited to watch this event live on Yad Vashem's YouTube channel on Wednesday, 27 January 2021 beginning at 15:30.
Online
Yad Vashem has created a mini-site marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, featuring a variety of resources the public can view, share and engage in, including online exhibitions, educational resources and the unique IRemember Wall .
Yad Vashem will be hosting for the first time ever an online virtual guided tour of the permanent exhibition "Shoah" located in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The virtual tour will take visitors through the Jewish Pavilion known as Block 27 in Auschwitz I, exploring the central themes of the Holocaust, offering insights into the rich Jewish life that existed prior to 1939 and the world of children during the Shoah, and showcasing the monumental Book of Names.
In addition to the virtual tour, Yad Vashem has curated and uploaded "My Lost Childhood," a new online exhibition featuring seven children's homes established after the end of WWII. Through the voices of survivor testimony, as well as artifacts, photographs and documents from Yad Vashem's unrivalled collections, this moving exhibition brings to life the terrifying ordeals of the children brought to the homes, and how they were gently assisted – often by survivors themselves – to re-enter normative society.
Furthermore, members of Yad Vashem's senior staff, historians and eductors will participate in various events and ceremonies around the world marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Worldwide
Yad Vashem's Ready2Print exhibitions will be displayed in dozens of community centers and institutions around the world, including locations in Spain, Germany, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
