An international symposium, “Yad Vashem – 60 Years: Formation, Consolidation, Challenges” will take place on Thursday, 16 Teves 5774 at Yad Vashem.

Featuring speakers from Israel, the United States, Poland, France and Germany, the symposium, which opens at 9:00 AM and will take place in English and Hebrew in the International School for Holocaust Studies is open to the public.

Among the speakers are Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, Dorit Novak, Israel, Amb. Reuven Merhav, Israel, Prof. Dan Michman, Israel, Dr. Bella Gutterman, Israel, Prof. Dina Porat, Israel, Dr. Boaz Cohen, Israel, Dr. Yitzhak Arad, Israel, Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, USA, Prof. Annette Wieviorka, France, Prof. Pawel Spiewak, Poland, and Dr. Susanne Heim, Germany. The full program is attached.

Yad Vashem was established by a law of the Knesset in 1953 to commemorate the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Through its museums, archives, International School for Holocaust Studies, International Institute for Holocaust Research, and recognition of the Righteous among the Nations, Yad Vashem has become the world center of Holocaust documentation, research, education and commemoration, with some 1 million people visiting the campus annually, and some 12 million visits to its website recorded last year.

Over the years, Yad Vashem has received the Israel Prize for special contribution to the society and State of Israel in 2003, the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in 2007, and numerous other awards and recognitions for its work on behalf of Holocaust commemoration, research and education.

The symposium is taking place with the generous support of the Gutwirth Family Fund.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)