Online Press Kit

About the New Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is the premier source for Holocaust education, documentation and research. The New Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus with the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center at its heart, located on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem, houses a constant, ever expanding collection of Holocaust-era art, artifacts and documentation. Encompassing more than 230 million items, including: documentation, art, photos, artifacts, testimonies and more. The collections capture the voices and stories of those who were murdered in the Holocaust and those that survived – a solemn repository of human resilience. Each item tells the story of a person, a family, or a community and serves as evidence of the tragic past of the Jewish people. As the duty of remembrance passes to future generations, the Yad Vashem collections grow ever more vital in preserving and telling the story of the Shoah. This is important to note that given the passage of time these items are in dire need of conservation and preservation. In this pursuit, Yad Vashem has acknowledged the imperative to modernize its facilities and extend its collection capacity for forthcoming acquisitions (not just in terms of quantity, but to safeguard them in good condition for future generations. Responding to these needs, Yad Vashem established the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus and The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center at its heart. This new center houses state-of-the-art repositories, which maintain these precious items to the highest standards and provides for proper storage, preservation and conservation of the materials.

Covering an area of 6,590 square meters, the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus will include:

• The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center;
• Wolfson Gallery: "122,499 Files" - Video Art Wall;
• The Joseph Wilf Curatorial Center;
• auditorium and exhibitions hall *;
• Families and Children's Exhibition Gallery *.

Elements of the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus

The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center

The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center is a state-of-the-art complex providing the latest solutions for optimal preservation of the artifacts, photographs, artworks and documents housed at Yad Vashem. Under these ideal conditions, the stories and belongings of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust will be maintained and their memory secured for the future generations.

The Joseph Wilf Curatorial Center

The Joseph Wilf Curatorial Center was renovated to afford the Museums Division optimal working and office conditions and facilitate their ever-important curatorial work. Now, as a result of the expansion, all of Yad Vashem's staff working on the various collections are located under one roof.

Wolfson Gallery: "122,499 Files" - Video Art Wall

Produced by video artist, filmmaker, and visual and sound designer Ran Slavin, the video wall, located in the Wolfson Gallery, at the entrance to the Shapell Collections Center, features images of thousands of artifacts, documents, photographs, and artwork within Yad Vashem's collections. Many of these items are too delicate and fragile to be displayed to the public, but through this creative medium and technology, they can now be showcased for the world to see.

Auditorium & Exhibition Hall *

Providing a facility to seat over 300 people, the Auditorium will host a diverse variety of events throughout the year. The spacious Auditorium Foyer houses exhibitions, which are frequented by visitors to Yad Vashem.

Family and Children's Exhibition: *

Located under the auditorium, this gallery offers a meaningful and age-appropriate experience for families and school-aged children visiting, serving as an alternative to the Holocaust History Museum.

* Under construction or in the process of being planned

The project broke ground during Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019.

About Yad Vashem Collections

Here on the Mount of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, hidden behind the scenes, lives the largest collection of Holocaust related art, artifacts and documentation in the world are preserved for posterity.

Today, Yad Vashem houses some 227.6 million pages of documentation, 2,800,000 Pages of Testimony, 541,500 Holocaust-era photographs, 31,000 artifacts and 14,000 works of art. Each item represents a personal story from the Holocaust era, making Yad Vashem the guardian of these precious memories.

• About Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
• About Yad Vashem Documents Archive 
• About Yad Vashem Art Collection 

Media Coverage

Various articles about the Moshal Shoah Legacy Campus and the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center

• July 2024 - The New York Times - ‘Crown Jewels of the Jewish People’: Preserving Memories of the Holocaust
• July 2024 - ABC - Finding Disney in the Darkness: How artists drew inspiration from Disney during the Holocaust
• July 2024 - Associated Press - Israel's Holocaust memorial opens a conservation facility to store artifacts, photos and more
• July 2024 - BILD - Neues Holocaust-Erinnerungszentrum eröffnet
• July 2024 - The Algemeiner - Israel's Yad Vashem Opens new Conservation Center for Holocaust-Era Artifacts in Jerusalem
• July 2024 - JNS - The Partisan's Camera
• July 2024 - The Jerusalem Post - 'Guardians of the Holocaust's Legacy'
• June 2024 -  Times of Israel - Family menorah saved from Holocaust is donated to Yad Vashem
• August 2023 – Jewish Chronicle - How Yad Vashem protects the world's Holocaust memories
• June 2019 – Yad Vashem Magazine - Breaking Ground for the New Shoah Heritage Campus
• May 2019 – AP News - Israel preserves Holocaust survivors’ memorabilia for future
• April 2019 – JNS - Love letters of the Shoah: Messages thrown from cattle cars convey final wishes, prayers, blessings
• April 2019 – CNN - Borussia Dortmund to make $1.1 million donation to Holocaust memorial museum
• April 2019 – The Jerusalem Post - BORUSSIA DORTMUND, GERMAN COMPANIES DONATE TO YAD VASHEM EXPANSION
• April 2019 – ABC News - 5 GERMAN FIRMS EACH GIVE $1.1 MILLION TO HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
• March 2019 – Times of Israel - Yad Vashem to break ground on new artifacts center on Holocaust Remembrance Day
• March 2019 – The Jerusalem Post -YAD VASHEM TO BUILD $50 MILLION HERITAGE CAMPUS, ARCHIVE
• December 2018 – The Jerusalem Post - Everlasting Witness
• October 2016 – Yad Vashem Magazine - The New Shoah Heritage Building

Related Videos

• Keeping the Memories, Restoring the Voices 
• Gathering the Fragments
• Last Letters
• Zvi Kopolovich's Auschwitz Siddur

Book of Names

Book of Names opening at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, 26 January 2023

The new "Book of Names of Holocaust Victims" is a monumental installation (2 meters high, 8 meters long and a meter deep) – a literal book with tangible, searchable pages containing the alphabetically arranged names of 4,800,000 Jewish men, women and children murdered by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust. The names in the Book have been meticulously gathered over the past 70 years by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, from a range of sources, including Pages of Testimony. Empty pages at the end of the Book leave room for over a million names of Holocaust victims still to be recovered. 

Opening Event at the United Nations, 26 January 2023

Yad Vashem Unveils Monumental "Book of Names" at the UN Headquarters

About the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names

The collection of the names of the millions of victims of the Holocaust has been central to Yad Vashem's activities for the past 7 decades. It is at the heart of Yad Vashem's name, Yad Vashem, 'a name and a memorial, as taken by the Biblical verse from Isaiah 56:5, ″And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a ΄yad vashem΄)... that shall not be cut off.″ The Book of Names is a monumental instillation to gather the over 4 million names of the victims into a tangible memorial. Search Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names >>>>

Submit Names to the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names

Many of the 4,800,000 names that are included in Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names come from Pages of Testimonies submitted by family and friends. You too can add names to our database. Submit a Page of Testimony in memory of a Holocaust victim from  your family. Together we will restore the identies of the nameless six million Jews murdered by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators. Submit names to the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names >>>> 

"Vessels of Light" Symphony, inspired by Chiune Sugihara

About the Symphony No. 6 "Vessels of Light"

Yad Vashem commissioned Symphony No. 6 "Vessels of Light", inspired by the heroic actions of Japanese Vice-Consul Chiune Sempo Sugihara alongside the Honorary Dutch Consul Jan Zwartendijk who together issued life-saving visas to thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, and have since been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

• Press Release for the "Vessels of Light" Symphony

See also:

• Who was Chiune Sugihara?
• Who was Jan Zwartendijk?
• Links to Other assets online regarding Sugihara and Righteous
• Photos from the world premiere event
• Background about the Yiddish Language

From the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century, Yiddish was the common tongue of most European Jews. Yiddish is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews and originating during the 9th century in Central Europe. This provided the Ashkenazi community with a High German-based vernacular which was fused with many elements taken from Hebrew and Aramaic and providing a writing system primarily using the Hebrew alphabet.

About the Righteous Among the Nations

One of Yad Vashem’s principal duties is to convey the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to Righteous Among the Nations who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust. Learn more about Righteous Among the Nations…

About the Ready2print Righteous Among the Nations Exhibition

Accompanying the musical performance is a special Yad Vashem ready2print exhibition entitled Righteous Among the Nations. The exhibition depicts several unique stories of Righteous Among the Nations, those non-Jews who risked their lives to help save Jews from the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

About the Fifth World Holocaust Forum

The Fifth World Holocaust Forum, entitled “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism,” is taking place at Yad Vashem on 23 January 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

As we mark seventy-five years since the end of the Holocaust, the most horrific tragedy in human history, a new wave of antisemitism unseen since World War II poses an existential threat to worldwide Jewry. Today, antisemitic incidents have hit record highs in countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and even the United States. More than ever, the world cannot afford to forget where hatred and extremism can lead. More than ever, world leaders must renew their commitment to stand up against antisemitism and prejudice and to ensure that such tragedy never happens again.

About the Fifth World Holocaust Forum

List of leaders attending the World Holocaust Forum