Yad Vashem

June 19, 2003 9:53 AM

Yad Vashem: Online Exhibitions. 'Yad Vashem's task is to perpetuate the legacy of the Holocaust to future generations so that the world never forgets the horrors and cruelty of the Holocaust. Its principal missions are commemoration and documentation of the events of the Holocaust, collection, examination, and publication of testimonies to the Holocaust, the collection and memorialization of the names of Holocaust victims, and research and education.' No Child's Play; Private Tolkatchev; Photos from the Warsaw Ghetto; and much more.
posted by plep (7 comments total)

Being in this part of the world I visited the analogue Yad Vashem last week. It's a deeply evocative place. The stillness and the sadness were spoilt somewhat by the pnumatic drills of mass of construction all over the site but let's not let it be said; this is an endeavour worth undertaking. I find it intersting that much of the art there is as conceptual as it is - it's almost as though the events that are trying to be evoked are beyond more traditional forms of representation.
posted by dmt at 10:12 AM on June 19, 2003

The book that Tommy's father dedicates to him is just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. What a wonderful present it must have been at the time; for the little boy to see the world as his father wished he could see it. There are more images from the book here, and I think that Tommy discovers his "pipepee" in this picture, or, at the very least, is proudly showing it off. Thanks, plep.
posted by iconomy at 10:33 AM on June 19, 2003

'Yad Vashem's task is to perpetuate the legacy of the Holocaust to future generations so that the world never forgets the horrors and cruelty of the Holocaust.'

They may not have forgotten the horror of the Holocaust, but that hasn't stopped mankind from trying to replicate it. From Cambodia to Rwanda to Bosnia and a bunch of mini-Holocausts in between, it seems like we have yet to link not forgetting about the Holocaust to not repeating it.
posted by laz-e-boy at 1:34 PM on June 19, 2003

Frightening and sobering. Thanks, plep.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:28 PM on June 19, 2003

late entry:
The Last Expression: Art and Auschwitz
(tangential self-link)
posted by erebora at 1:20 PM on June 20, 2003

erebora :- Is that yours? I have loved that site for ages. :)
posted by plep at 1:35 PM on June 20, 2003

Norman Finkelstein has many interesting and frankly disturbing things to tell about Yad Vashem in The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering.

I have always found it profoundly disturbing that the The Rape of Nanking is almost completely unknown even though it happened in the same war. It is not history if it is selective.
posted by GreenDragon at 10:52 PM on June 22, 2003