For over four decades, trees have been planted on the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations. The Avenue signifies the remarkable phenomenon of non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Almost 21,000 people who have been recognized by Yad Vashem over the years as Righteous Among the Nations, and their names are engraved on plaques close to the approximately 2,000 trees planted in the Avenue and throughout Yad Vashem, or on the walls especially erected in the Garden of the Righteous.

The location of the Avenue—which leads from the Visitors Center to Warsaw Ghetto Square—provides a poignant introduction to the site as a whole. Before entering the new Holocaust History Museum, which presents the story of the Shoah, the visitor is reminded that there was an alternative: there were individuals who chose to walk the righteous path and shine a glimmer of light amidst the darkness.

During the planning stages of Yad Vashem’s Multiyear Development Plan, a decision was made to renovate the Avenue and integrate it into the structure of the new Museum. Traversing the glass roof of the building, the Avenue has become an inseparable part of the Museum, allowing visitors inside to see the trees reflected in the glass—and those on the Avenue above to look down into the Museum—allowing them to internalize the crucial role played by the minority of non-Jews who, at great personal risk, saved many Jewish lives while morality was collapsing all around them.

Benefactors of the renovation Eva and Arie Halpern, and Gladys and Sam Halpern (USA) will attend the official dedication ceremony of the renovated Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations on 23 October.

For more information about The Righteous Among the Nations , click here.

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