Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

Yad Vashem: Israel‘s official memorial museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem is located on the western slope of Mt. Herzl and was established in 1953. The memorial site includes the Holocaust History Museum, sites such the Children’s Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, The Museum contains Holocaust art, books, sculptures, outdoor sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house, and an educational center named The International School/Institute for Holocaust Studies.

The aim of Yad Vashem’s founders was to recognize those gentiles who, at personal risk for themselves, their families and their neighbors, without a financial or evangelistic motive, chose to save their Jewish brethren from the Nazi genocide machination system and their collaborators during the Holocaust of WWII. Those recognized by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations are honored in a section of Yad Vashem known as the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Yad Vashem is the second most-visited Israeli tourist site after the Western Wall. There is no admission fee and the museum welcomes approximately one million visitors a year.