Yad Vashem

Jewish woman once held up by Nazis as ideal Aryan baby dead at 91

Born in Berlin in 1934 to Latvian Jewish parents Jacob and Polin Levinson, Taft was photographed when she was 6 months old by a German photographer, Hans Ballin.

HESSY TAFT poses holding a photograph of herself taken in 1935 by well-known German photographer Hans Ballin during an interview with Reuters July 9, 2014.
President Isaac Herzog (C) flanked by Dayan and IHRA Secretary-General Michaela Küchler at the IHRA plenary

At the crossroads of Holocaust remembrance

Megilat Hitler, now displayed at Yad Vashem's active synagogue, which opened on January 1.

Faith under persecution: Yad Vashem exhibit on keeping the Jewish calendar in the Shoah opens

As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches we ask whether the lessons of the past have taught us anything?

Happy(ish) New Year: Holocaust remembrance as warning in an age of resurgent antisemitism


Grapevine: New at JCT

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

A sketch for the upcoming Machon Tal campus

Model of survival: The story of Holocaust survivor and octogenarian Yona Amit

'I don’t know why I was saved – why I from all the others. But I know that my task was to be one little part of bringing up our nation from the ashes to become a nation again, to come to Israel.'

Yona gazes at a photo of her grandniece, Ella Or, the last in the survivor’s Holocaust PowerPoint presentation, who died in the 2018 southern Israel flash flood tragedy. ‘We really won!’ her quote says: ‘We’re here – to stay.’

'This can't be ignored': Rubio signs Survivors' Declaration at Yad Vashem

While at Yad Vashem, Rubio signed the Survivors' Declaration.

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tours Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025

'Forgotten Childhoods': New Yad Vashem exhibit shows Jewish childhoods during Holocaust

Paintings at Yad Vashem depict childhood memories from Germany during the Holocaust.

 Painting created by Ernie Meyer at age 16, when he parted from his parents for the last time at the train station.

Other cities should follow New York's example and establish Yad Vashem Way - opinion

Initiatives like NYC's Yad Vashem Way remind us that not only must we commemorate Holocaust victims but also actively combat the antisemitism and hatred that continue to permeate today's society.

'THIS PAST week's co-naming of a street in New York City as Yad Vashem Way is a significant turn in events; in a city that never sleeps, this street sign stands high as a beacon of remembrance and a call to action for all humanity,' the writer states.

NYC street in Manhattan's Upper East Side renamed 'Yad Vashem Way'

The location in the Manhattan borough was chosen in the vicinity of Rabbi Arthur Schneier’s iconic Park East Synagogue, done as a testament to NYC Jewish immigrants who survived the Holocaust.

'THIS PAST week's co-naming of a street in New York City as Yad Vashem Way is a significant turn in events; in a city that never sleeps, this street sign stands high as a beacon of remembrance and a call to action for all humanity,' the writer states.

Rabbi Lau moved the audience at the European Commission’s Holocaust Memorial Ceremony


Israeli inmates meet with Holocaust survivors on Int'l Holocaust Remembrance Day

The meeting was held as part of a program entitled "Victory of the Spirit." 

 View of the meeting conducted between Holocaust survivors and inmates. January 27, 2025.

EU hosts Auschwitz liberation event at Beit Juliana

In attendance were Holocaust survivors, the ambassadors of EU countries and the EU ambassador, Dimiter Tzantchev, as well as the Chairman of Yad Vashem, Dani Dayan.

  EU hosts holocaust event at Herzliya retirement home

Yad Vashem chair denounces Musk's statements to far-right German party rally

Musk spoke in favor of voting for the far-right party, saying 'I'm very excited for the AfD; I think you're really the best hope for Germany...fight for a great future for Germany,'

 Elon Musk appearing before an AfD conference, January 25, 2025