|
“Remember only that I was innocent
and, just like you, mortal on that day,
I, too, had had a face marked by rage, by pity and joy,
quite simply, a human face!”
Benjamin Fondane, Exodus
Murdered at Auschwitz, 1944
The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem is the Jewish People’s memorial to
each and every Jew who perished in the Holocaust – a place where
they may be commemorated for generations to come.
The main circular hall houses the extensive collection of “Pages of
Testimony” – short biographies of each Holocaust victim. Over two
million Pages are stored in the circular repository around the outer
edge of the Hall, with room for six million in all.
The ceiling of the Hall is composed of a ten-meter high cone
reaching skywards, displaying 600 photographs and fragments of Pages
of Testimony. This exhibit represents a fraction of the murdered six
million men, women and children from the diverse Jewish world
destroyed by the Nazis and their accomplices. The victims’ portraits
are reflected in water at the base of an opposing cone carved out of
the mountain’s bedrock.
At the far end of the Hall is a glass screen onto which Pages of
Testimony are projected. From here one may enter a computer center
and search the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, with the
assistance of the Hall of Names staff. The Center also offers blank
Pages of Testimony and survivor registration forms.
The Hall of Names was planned and designed by architect Moshe Safdie
and designer Dorit Harel.
Hall of Names Opening Hours:
Sunday-Wednesday 9:00-17:00
Thursdays 9:00-20:00
Fridays 9:00-14:00
Note: To research additional sources of information, visitors may go
to the Reading Room, located in the Archives and Library building
(open Sunday-Thursday 8:30-17:00).
Pages of Testimony
“… And I shall give them in My house and within My walls a
memorial and a name [Yad Vashem]… that shall not be cut off.”
Isaiah, 56:5
Yad Vashem, with the support of Jewish communities and organizations
around the world, has led the historic mission to memorialize every
Jewish victim of the Holocaust by collecting “Pages of Testimony”
since the mid 1950s.
Pages of Testimony are designed to restore the personal identity and
brief life stories of each individual victim, which the Nazis and
their accomplices tried so hard to obliterate. Submitted by
survivors, relatives or friends, Pages of Testimony contain the
names, biographical details and, when available, photographs, of the
victims. They are preserved in the Hall of Names, in Yad Vashem’s
Holocaust History Museum complex (over).
Computerization of the Pages of Testimony collection commenced in
1992, and has subsequently evolved into The Central Database of
Shoah Victims’ Names, which contains additional names identified
from various archival sources. In November 2004, the entire Names
Database was uploaded to the Yad Vashem website at
www.yadvashem.org where one can freely access information on the
over 3 million Jewish victims identified so far, as well as submit
additional names and information online.
Millions more victims remain unnamed. The effort to identify them
continues. Please help complete this vital mission of the Jewish
people and submit Pages of Testimony and photographs of unregistered
victims or assist others with this important task so the victims
will always be remembered.
You can also help support the project by contributing to offset the
costs of collecting and processing Pages of Testimony and
maintaining the Names Database. To donate online, click “support us”
on the Yad Vashem website. For information on making a
tax-deductible donation please contact:
international.relations@yadvashem.org.il.
Please note:
-
Anyone can submit a Page of Testimony: You do not have to be a
relative of the victim to complete a Page of Testimony for him or
her. The minimum information required is the victim’s family and
first names, and the name of the place of residence or birth; any
additional information is welcome. Victims of anti-Jewish
persecution who survived WWII should be registered on survivors’
forms.
-
Testimonies given to organizations OTHER
than Yad Vashem are probably NOT in the Names Database.
-
For a free community outreach guide to mobilize a Names Recovery
Campaign in your community or classroom, please contact:
names.outreach@yadvashem.org.il
|
