by Leah Goldstein

“In its decision to bestow this award upon Yad Vashem, the Prince of Asturias Foundation has stood up and proclaimed that the struggle against the Nazi perpetuators must not be the struggle of one institution, one nation, or one religion. But rather humanity’s shared struggle, in which Yad Vashem has assumed a central and leading role.”

From the speech of Avner Shalev accepting the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord


In an emotional and grand ceremony at the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Spain at the end of October, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev accepted the prestigious international Prince of Asturias Award for Concord on behalf of Yad Vashem from Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe.

The Prince of Asturias Award is presented in eight categories. The Award for Concord is bestowed upon the person, persons or institution whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, to the struggle against injustice or ignorance, to the defense of freedom, or whose work has widened the horizons of knowledge or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving mankind’s heritage.

In the presence of the Spanish royal family, Shalev was joined on stage by Holocaust survivors Felix Zandman, Max Mazin, Anna and Zygmunt Rotter, David Azrieli, Mazaltov Mordoh, Jaime Vandor, Baruch Shub and Moshe Haelion, and Righteous Among the Nations Andree Geulen-Herscovici, as well as Isaac Querub, President of the Spanish Society for Yad Vashem and Perla Hazan, Director of the International Relations Division’s Iberoamerican, Spain and Portugal Desk. They were enthusiastically received by the audience who, at Yad Vashem’s request, then stood for a moment of silence, to show their respect to the memory of those who perished during the Holocaust. Many friends and benefactors of Yad Vashem from around the world also attended the ceremony, including member of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Holocaust survivor Shoshana Weinshall and Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson

In his acceptance speech Avner Shalev recalled the personal story of Felix Zandman, who as a young man lost his entire family, and rebuilt his life. Shalev also saluted the Righteous Among the Nations, among them members of the Spanish nation, “outstanding individuals in whose honor a new concept in human civilization was coined.” He spoke of the “shared mission… the triumph of tolerance over racism, love over hatred, and good over evil—not only the specific, unique historical Nazi evil, but also the persistent, rejuvenating evil of our own time, the evil of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia everywhere on earth.”

The Prince of Asturias ceremony took place just one day after a special ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris, at which Shalev received the Légion d’Honneur from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In a moving and eloquent speech, Sarkozy—who noted that a visit to Yad Vashem prior to his election “changed his life”—remarked: “The Legion of Honor I present today is for you and for Yad Vashem, whose international reputation and importance are a result of your determined activity, that is suffused with passion and inspiration.”

Avner Shalev was appointed Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate in 1993. From the beginning of his tenure, Shalev strived to redefine the direction and tools of Holocaust remembrance and education, introducing a far-reaching multiyear re-development plan that included opening an International School for Holocaust Studies, enlarging Yad Vashem’s archives, libraries and research facilities, and building a new Museum Complex. He is also Chief Curator of the new Holocaust History Museum that opened in March 2005.

“France is a very important country; its culture, recognition and world status, its key role throughout history, its large Jewish community and the fact that the French president himself is devoting his precious time to grant me this award—all this is very significant," Shalev said on receiving the honor. “I often think of my grandparents whom I never knew, of my mother’s tears each time she thought of her sisters who perished in the Holocaust…All this now comes together through the awareness that remembering the Holocaust is part of a greater culture, a global one. This award means that France believes that the activities of Yad Vashem, which I am privileged to lead, has significantly contributed to French, European and universal identity. This is very moving for me.”
 

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