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AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM Vol. 47-No. 3 ISSN 0892-1571 January/February 2021-Shevat/Adar 5781 THE PATH OF MEMORY AND TRIBUTE: FROM VICTIMS TO HEROES n November 1, 2005, the United Na- Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death Hashoah veHagvurah in 1951, and to the United tions General Assembly established camp; the victims of the Holocaust; and the res- Nations establishing January 27 as International Resolution 60/7 and designated cuers who helped save Jewish lives during this Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005. OJanuary 27 as an annual Interna- horrific period in Jewish and world history. The impact of these days combined encapsu- tional Day of Commemoration in memory of the Dr. Yahalom was invited to present profes- lates the journey of Holocaust remembrance over victims of the Holocaust and in honor of the lib- sional development opportunities to raise aware- the years. We recite the traditional Kaddish for eration of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Holocaust victims, we honor the brav- Nazi death camp, by the Soviet Army. This ery and heroism of Holocaust victims, day is observed with ceremonies and activi- and we pay tribute to the rescuers and ties at United Nations headquarters in New liberators. Holocaust commemoration York and at United Nations offices around the has evolved from victimhood to brav- world. Since its inception, this day has in- ery, heroism and survival. spired educational programs globally. he American Society for We are the last generation to have the Yad Vashem continues to privilege of learning about the Holocaust from offer virtual programs and survivors and liberators. As the distance from T online student-centered the events of the Holocaust increases, the teaching strategies to meet the chang- obligation for an international day of remem- ing landscape of classroom learning brance is more relevant than ever before. without compromising our outreach, With the inauguration of January 27 as Inter- impact and content. Through Dr. Ya- national Holocaust Remembrance Day, Holo- halom’s presentations of traveling ex- caust commemoration and remembrance hibits developed by Yad Vashem, extend beyond the Jewish community to the students and communities nationwide global community. It is encouraging that this learned about the victims (“No Child’s global initiative continues to impact students, Play”), the perpetrators (“Architecture educators and communities around the of Murder: the Auschwitz-Birkenau world. This continuity secures Holocaust re- Blueprints”), and the rescuers (“Besa: membrance, education and memory. A Code of Honor”). We succeeded in We also note that on April 27, 1951, the offering these exhibits to a range of Israeli Knesset designated the 27th day of audiences this past month alone: 274 the Hebrew month of Nissan as the national students, 78 educators, and audi- day for remembering and commemorating ences of no fewer than 370 during our the Holocaust. This date was named Yom community events. Hashoah veHagvurah, Day of Martyrdom, Participants in these virtual pro- Heroism and Bravery, to emphasize the brav- grams have offered valuable feed- ery of that period and not just the destruction. back indicating the strong impact of It is important to realize that the rationale these resources and presentations. of choosing these two dates (January 27 and The feedback we received included the 27th of Nissan), and of what they com- comments indicating that “this pro- memorate, underscores the importance of re- gram was informative about a story membering the two starkly different yet Panel from the traveling exhibit “No Child’s Play.” that is not well known. I found it to be equally important components of the Holo- powerful and moving. Thank you for caust. We remember those who were killed, but ness about the Holocaust to students and sharing this experience of the Muslim Albanians we also remember the heroic acts taken by the educators on the West Coast, in the tri-state area who saved Jews during the darkest hours of hu- victims at that time, and the heroism of rescuers and in South Florida. In connection with Interna- manity”; “… this exhibit taught me about the ex- and liberators. tional Holocaust Remembrance Day, students perience of children and how brave they were This distinction is captured by the recent array and educators learned about the path of creating during such hard times”; and “I never realized of programs presented by Marlene W. Yahalom, Holocaust commemoration — from the early ef- how evil can be so horrible to disregard all PhD, director of education at the American Soci- forts by the Israeli Rabbinate in 1949 identifying human emotion and carry out such unprece- ety for Yad Vashem. Through these programs we Asara B’Tevet as a day to memorialize Holocaust dented crimes against the Jews.” remember and honor those who liberated victims, to the Knesset designating Yom (Continued on page 2) Page 2 MARTYRDOM & RESISTANCE January/February 2021 - Shevat/Adar 5781 THE PATH OF MEMORY AND TRIBUTE: FROM VICTIMS TO HEROES (Continued from page 1) tain their childhood and youth by creating for development programs. The theme this year is Our traveling exhibits offer a view of the themselves a different reality from that which sur- History Repeats Itself: Making Sure Our Stu- Holocaust through an additional lens — the im- rounded them. dents Are Listening. Our speakers this year are portance of verifying and authenticating Holo- caust documentation to safeguard this history from efforts to minimize this event through de- nial and distortion. n line with this paramount concern and ob- ligation to ensure the accuracy of informa- tion and instruction on the Holocaust, on IJanuary 26, 2007, in addition to Interna- tional Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 61/255 to specifically address Holocaust denial and distortion. Resolution 61/255 articulates that it “Con- demns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust” and “Urges all Member States unre- servedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end.” The United Nations em- phasizes, through this resolution, that by “ignor- ing the historical fact of those terrible events, [we] increase the risk they will be repeated.” Through the verification and professional re- An image from the exhibit “Architecture of Murder: the Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints.” view of the artifacts, content and documentation Besa: A Code of Honor: This exhibit is Elisha Wiesel, son of Elie Wiesel, z”l, and Shu- of these exhibits, Yad Vashem developed three about the Righteous Among the Nations — lamit Imber, director of pedagogy of the Interna- meaningful and path-breaking traveling exhibits non-Jews who risked their lives saving Jews tional School for Holocaust Studies at Yad to honor and pay tribute to Holocaust victims and during the Holocaust. It is composed of por- Vashem. rescuers and teach about the perpetrators. traits and text about Muslim families in Albania n 1999, the Arfa Conference was created who saved Jews during the Holocaust, con- by Caroline Massel, executive board mem- verging between two seemingly opposed ber and chair of our Education Committee. worlds. Prior to World War II, some 200 Jews IIt is generously supported by the Barbara lived in Albania. In 1943, the Albanian popula- Gutfreund Arfa Endowment Fund for Holocaust tion refused to comply with Nazis’ orders to turn Education, established by the Arfa and Massel over lists of Jews residing in Albania. The re- families. This conference, organized by Dr. Mar- markable assistance afforded to the Jews was lene W. Yahalom, director of education of the grounded in Besa, a code of honor. Besa American Society, has proven to be a strong ve- means literally “to keep the promise.” One who hicle to promote the mission of Holocaust re- acts according to Besa is someone who keeps membrance and memory through education over his or her word, someone to whom one can the years. trust one’s life and the lives of one’s family. Im- Our charge as Holocaust educators in- pressively, there were more Jews in Albania at cludes that we teach our students the respon- the end of the war than before. This very sibility of accurately recording historical human story is told through these sensitive por- events, as a way to honor the memory of the traits that combine to highlight a little-known victims and to safeguard against the denial but, remarkable aspect of the Holocaust. and distortion of the facts of these events. This Architecture of Murder: The Auschwitz- process calls for us to explore and introduce Birkenau Blueprints: This exhibit displays im- to our students how historical events may be ages of original maps, drawings, photographs of presented and re-presented over time. We the planning stages of Auschwitz, and the origi- must show students the how to retrieve and Panel from the traveling exhibit “Besa: A Code of Honor.” nal architectural blueprints of Auschwitz-Birke- verify information from various kinds of re- These exhibits were displayed at the United Na- nau. The original plans include images of the sources available to them. tions to commemorate International Holocaust construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau that were Please visit our website for more information Remembrance Day in 2006, 2008 and 2010, re- mostly prepared in the fall of 1941. The plans about our upcoming Arfa Conference, and up- spectively. were found in 2008 in an abandoned apartment dates and schedules of upcoming events No Child’s Play: This exhibit opens a win- in Berlin and purchased by the German media through the 2020–2021 school year. dow into the world of children during the Holo- corporation Axel Springer, the publisher of the caust. It does not focus on history, statistics or newspaper Bild.
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