Editing Yad Vashem (section)

==History==
[[File:ISR-2015-Jerusalem-Yad Vashem-Wagon monument 01.jpg|thumb|The wagon (or ''[[Stock car (rail)|cattle car]]'') monument in memory of those [[Holocaust trains|deported by rail]]]]

The desire to establish a memorial in the historical [[Jewish homeland]] for Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust originated during [[World War II]], in response to emerging accounts of the mass murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied countries. Yad Vashem was first proposed in September 1942, at a board meeting of the [[Jewish National Fund]], by Mordecai Shenhavi, a member of Kibbutz [[Mishmar Ha'emek]].<ref name=Margalit/> In August 1945, the plan was discussed in greater detail at a [[Zionist]] meeting in London. A provisional board of Zionist leaders was established that included [[David Remez]] as chairman, [[Shlomo Zalman Shragai]], [[Baruch Zuckerman]], and Shenhavi. In February 1946, Yad Vashem opened an office in Jerusalem and a branch office in [[Tel Aviv]], and in June that year convened its first plenary session. In July 1947, the First Conference on Holocaust Research was held at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]]. However, the outbreak of the [[1947–1949 Palestine war]] brought operations to a standstill for two years.

On 19 August 1953, the [[Knesset]], Israel's Parliament, unanimously passed the Yad Vashem Law, establishing the '''Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority''', the aim of which was "the commemoration in the Homeland of all those members of the Jewish people who gave their lives, or rose up and fought the Nazi enemy and its collaborators," and to set up "a memorial to them, and to the communities, organizations and institutions that were destroyed because they belonged to the Jewish people."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gilbert|first1=Martin |author-link1= Martin Gilbert|title=Israel: A History |date= 2008|publisher= Harper Perennial |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-68812363-5|page=288|edition= rev. & upd.}}</ref>

[[File:YadVashem Valley of the Communities 002.jpg|thumb|Valley of the (Destroyed) Communities]]
On 29 July 1954, the [[cornerstone]] for the Yad Vashem building was laid on a hill in western Jerusalem, to be known as the Mount of Remembrance ({{langx|he|Har HaZikaron}}); the organization had already begun projects to [[Page of Testimony|collect the names of individuals killed in the Holocaust]]; acquire Holocaust documentation and personal testimonies of [[Holocaust survivors|survivors]] for the Archives and Library; and develop research and publications. The memorial and museum opened to the public in 1957.<ref name= YVQ2003-6>{{cite journal |last1= Silberklang|first1=David|author-link=David Silberklang|title=More Than a Memorial: The Evolution of Yad Vashem |journal= Yad Vashem Quarterly Magazine | issue = Special Commemorative ed |date=Fall 2003 |pages=6–7|publisher=Yad Vashem |location= Jerusalem, [[Israel|IL]] |url= https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/yv_magazine31.pdf}}</ref><ref name= "Naor1954">{{cite book |last1= Naor|first1=Mordechai|title= The Twentieth Century in Eretz Israel|date=1998|publisher= Konenmann Verlagsgesellschaft |location= Cologne, [[Germany|DE]] |isbn= 978-3-89508595-6|pages=317–18 |translator-last= Krausz |translator-first=Judith | chapter = 1954}}</ref>

The location of Yad Vashem on the western side of [[Mount Herzl]] – an area devoid of weighty historical associations, distinct from the [[Chamber of the Holocaust]], founded in 1948 on [[Mount Zion]]<ref>{{cite book|title=On Memory: An Interdisciplinary Approach |url= {{Google books |plainurl= yes |id= zBE_q09a5mgC |page= 43}} |first= Arye |last= Edrei|chapter=Holocaust Memorial|editor= Doron Mendels |page=43|isbn=978-3-03911-064-3 |date= 7 June 2007|publisher= Peter Lang }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal= Shiur Times |date=6 May 2008|pages=36–37 |url= https://issuu.com/shiurtimes/docs/may2008 |first= Yehudit |last= Singer|title=60 Years of Commemorating the Holocaust}}</ref> – was chosen because it was far from the Jerusalem city center, and the founders of the memorial site did not want to erect a grim, sorrowful memorial, amidst population concentration. The conceptual connection of "From Holocaust to Rebirth" was made only with hindsight: Only in 2003 the Connecting Path between Yad Vashem and the National Cemetery in Mount Herzl was created and paved.<ref>Jackie Feldman, [https://www.academia.edu/2312409/Between_Yad_Vashem_and_Mt_Herzl_Changing_Inscriptions_of_Sacrifice_on_Jerusalems_Mountain_of_Memory "Between Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl: Changing Inscriptions of Sacrifice on Jerusalem’s 'Mountain of Memory'"], in ''[[Anthropological Quarterly]]'', p. 1155. The Connecting Path is called in the article "The Linking Path".</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mosheoren.com/en/content/257|title=The Linking Trail &#124; Moshe Oren|website=mosheoren.com}}</ref> The "Valley of the Communities" monument at Yad Vashem commemorates over 5,000 Jewish communities destroyed or damaged during the Holocaust, the names of which are engraved on its towering walls. The position of Yad Vashem is that the Holocaust is incomparable to any other calamity previously inflicted on the Jewish people, and therefore the Holocaust cannot be regarded as a continuation of the death and destruction that plagued Jewish communities over the centuries, but rather as a unique phase in history, an unprecedented endeavor to totally annihilate the Jewish people.<ref>[https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/faqs.html FAQs. The Holocaust Resource Center] – Question 2</ref><ref name= "sallyann">{{cite book |url= {{Google books |plainurl= yes |id=fG8WAQAAIAAJ }} |title=A guide to Jewish genealogical research in Israel |page= 67 |first= Sallyann |last= Amdur Sack | author-link = Sallyann Amdur Sack |year=1995 |publisher=[[Avotaynu]] |isbn= 0-96263737-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl= yes |id=TRc9ea_CKOUC |page=371 }} |title= Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide |page= 371 |first1=Daniel |last1= Jacobs |first2= Shirley |last2= Eber |first3=Francesca |last3= Silvani |year= 1998 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=1-85828248-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= {{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=FOckAQAAMAAJ |page= 99}} |page= 99 |title=The Holocaust in Israeli Public Debate in the 1950s: Ideology and memory |year=2007 |publisher= Vallentine Mitchell |first=Roni |last=Stauber |isbn= 978-0-85303723-1}}</ref>

In 1982, Yad Vashem sponsored the [[International Conference on Holocaust and Genocide]], which included six presentations on the [[Armenian genocide]]. It later withdrew from the conference after threats by the Turkish government that Jewish lives would be put in danger if the conference went ahead.<ref>{{cite book|last=Auron|first=Yair|author-link=Yair Auron|title=The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide|publisher= Rutgers University Press|date= 2003|isbn=0-7658-0834-X|chapter=The Israeli Academy and the Armenian Genocide|pages=217–225}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Baer |first1=Marc D. |author1-link=Marc David Baer |title=Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide |date=2020 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-04542-3 |language=en|pages=126–127}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ben Aharon |first1=Eldad |title=A Unique Denial: Israel's Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |date=2015 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=638–654 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2015.1043514|s2cid=218602513  |issn=1353-0194}}</ref>

On 15 March 2005, a new Museum complex four times larger than the old one opened at Yad Vashem.<ref>[https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/15-march-2005-12-04.html The new Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem – FACTS & FIGURES], Yad Vashem press releases, 15 March 2005</ref> It included the Holocaust History Museum with a new [[Hall of Names]], a Museum of Holocaust Art, an Exhibitions Pavilion, a Learning Center and a Visual Center.<ref>{{cite news |title= New Holocaust Museum Opens in Jerusalem |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/15/international/middleeast/new-holocaus-holocaust-museum-opens-in-jerusalem.html |access-date=15 January 2018 |work= The New York Times|date= 15 March 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= The new Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem – Facts & Figures|url= http://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/15-march-2005-12-04.html |publisher=Yad Vashem | type = press release |date= 15 March 2005}}</ref> The new Yad Vashem museum was designed by [[Israeli-Canadian]] architect [[Moshe Safdie]], replacing the previous 30-year-old exhibition.<ref>{{cite web| first = Etgar | last = Lefkovits |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-109780569.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130525225645/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-109780569.html |url-status=dead |archive-date= 25 May 2013 |title= Jerusalem: Yad Vashem |publisher= Forward |access-date= 25 February 2014}}</ref> It was the culmination of a $100 million decade-long expansion project.<ref name=Ser>{{cite web |last= Ser |first= Sam  |title=New Yad Vashem museum to emphasize 'human story' |publisher=[[Jerusalem Post]]|url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-105361590.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130525211753/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-105361590.html |url-status=dead |archive-date= 25 May 2013 |access-date= 25 February 2014}}</ref>