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Alyssa Riggio

Professor Knapp

Composition II

2/23/17

Yad Vashem Archive: The Voices That Didn’t Rest

Book of Isaiah states, “Even unto them will I give in my house and within my wall a place

and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall

not be cut off”. This verse is the genesis for the naming of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

The idea of creating this masterpiece memorial started in August of 1945 but the actual

beginnings of design began in 1953 by Israel’s Parliament. They decided to place the museum

as an addition to the existing Chamber of the Holocaust which was located on Mount Zion in

Israel. The Chamber of the Holocaust was already standing to give reverence to 2,000 Jewish

communities that were destroyed during the Nazi regime. This location translated its roots as a

symbol of rebirth post death and destruction for the Jewish people. The Yad Vesham was built

onto this location to further deepen the roots of life after persecution. The project costs were

estimated at 100$ Million and serves a worldwide community of Jews and Gentiles. The Yad

Vesham Holocaust Museum opened its doors in 1957 and has been evolving and adding to its

archives ever since. In 1993, the International School and Institute for Holocaust Studies was

founded for the education of educators. This was also the year that the planning for a more

expansive museum began and completed in 2005. It increased size and technology, exhibits

and new chapters of information. This museum displays artwork, artifacts, personal items,
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letters and stories from 90 Holocaust survivors in over 10 different languages. Since it’s

inception, the museum has collected approximately 110,000 testimonies that are on audio,

written and videoed by survivors. There are data banks that visitors can log into at the

memorial and look up their relatives’ names for information gathered regarding their final fate.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and The International Tracing Service have

donated their databases for further research for the visitors to review. The building is modern

in architecture and is filled with light to illuminate its galleries and walls. There is an extensive

exhibition called the “Hall of Names” naming the known and memorials to the unknown. A

beautiful aspect to the memorial is the tribute to honor the non- Jews who were a part of the

rescue missions to stop the genocide and save the Jewish people. The Museum has created a

“Garden of the Righteous Amongst the Nations” where the people that risked their own lives to

save the Jewish people are commemorated with a certificate of honor, a plaque and a medal

and place in the garden to be remembered for their courage. This is located on the Yad

Vashem Mount of Remembrance. This is an ongoing pursuit to receive and collect and

recognize the righteous of the Holocaust. It is documented to have over 24,300 persons on the

Mount. Today, 2.2 million pages of testimony have been collected and there are blank pages

for the testimony yet to be spoken.

The Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center is an archive full of stories,

secrets and separation. All information given at the museum is equally portrayed in the archive.

It tells a sorrowful tale of violence in the name of religion and discrimination of the fatal kind

for the Jews. Although there have been countless mass genocides documented in history, Yad
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Vashem points it’s arrow towards the largest example of evil. The time was 1933, the place was

Nazi Germany and Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. At this time, there were

566,000 Jewish people just in Germany. The holocaust was a time in history where life often

fought to escape death; however, death was much too clever. Death’s face was Adolf Hitler as

he attempted to exterminate every kosher human in his path. No prisoners and no remorse. By

1945, he murdered approximately 6 million Jews throughout Europe. The Yad Vashem archive

portrays this horror all too well. It provides interactive learning opportunities, historical

documentation and authentic accounts that can be comprehended by all audiences. The

archive is a mass integration of testimony of victims and their families, witnesses and letters.

This remembrance is a source of commemoration and research of the holocaust includes

information from Poland, France, Austria, Latvia, Ukraine, Romania and Yugoslavia. It is both

factual and rhetorical evidence for our world to view. From a rhetorical standpoint, the Yad

Vashem archive provides ethos, pathos, and logos in every collection of information it contains.

The variety of voices that are present within this archive can be defined as a fair representation

of the cultural context because of scholarly research, documented journals with vast amount of

identities in the data bases and artifacts that narrate even without words being spoken;

however, improvements can be made by adding in multiple and counter perspectives.

In March of 1933, the German Parliament passed the “Enabling Act” giving Hitler

dictatorial powers. This was the pivotal point when Hitler started his plan to degrade and

destroy “non-Aryan” people. He took specific focus against the Jewish people. Horrible acts of

disgrace, disrespect, defaming and inhumane treatment began and quickly escalated into mass
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murder of a thriving Jewish population throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. The museum

illustrates and tells the story of the timeline of hatred and evil to an innocent beautiful people.

Pictures of Jewish Communities that were rich with educated people bearing traits rich in work

ethic, perseverance to prosper in their field were thrown out of their homes and work places.

Doctors, Dentists, Teachers, Lawyers, Pharmacists, Merchandisers, Tailors, Accountants and

Business Owners were stripped of all of their lives. They pillaged their homes, offices, factories

and bank accounts. They stole their belongings and their dignity. Some of these items like

clothing, books, artwork, designs, fashions, fabrics, gold, silver, coins, family heirlooms and

Temples were taken and the museum has restored and collected what has been found. Yad

Vashem has collections of jewels, watches, rings, camera’s, children’s dolls and toys. The

museum provides as much history on the artifact as it can from origin, to family name and

purpose. The importance of these artifacts becomes quite clear once viewed and explored

deeply. Each artifact has its own voice and each voice has its own story; all different yet all the

same. The archive has artifacts that quench the thirst of the observant by providing evidence.

The many voices now are not just voices but they are also objects. By placing an object with a

voice, it provides accuracy that the voice is legitimate for the audience.

The Holocaust museum and archive has created and advertised a worldwide rescue

campaign asking every family with roots from and before WWII to search for every document

and object and to donate to the museum. They believe every fiber is connected to each other

and to broaden and enlighten the world on a time of waste and pain. These fibers all tell an

intricate tale that affects all of us. The museum and archive has worked hard to collect and

restore musical pieces, instruments and stories of cantor’s from synagogues that were
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destroyed and burnt down for posterity and remembrance of a joyful song. Yad Vashem has

accomplished an intricate online exhibition for viewers to learn and experience the stories of

the Holocaust. It has outlined communities from Bratislava, Warsaw Ghetto, Wurzburg, Balti,

Vilna, Plonsk, Wolbrom, Macedonia, Trzebinia, Mir and Carpathian Mountains. There is a

section on sports, Hanukkah and Festival of Lights, Music, Soldiers and Medicine. There is an

infinite amount of voices displayed in each section. An example being The Architecture of

Murder which is an Auschwitz- Birkenau Blueprint of the design of the camp. It is estimated

that 1.1 million people were murdered In Auschwitz. This is just a fraction of the souls that

death took with him during this time. However, their voices still linger and legacy will forever

live on.

The International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem is an apex of

worldwide research. It is the home of fellowships, cooperative projects, academic research,

conferences, symposia, seminars and published research papers. The Institute publishes the

“Yad Vashem Studies” which is a peer-reviewed semi-annual scholarly journal on the Shoah. It

has invited scholars from all disciplines to publish and submit and manuscripts relating to

Holocaust. The research institute has a mission to engage the world on genocide issues and the

progression at the Yad Vashem in the fight. The Institute also provides educational materials,

online courses, newsletters, seminars, video tutorials and conferences. The scholarly research

takes a factual approach that infuses logos in every document published. With logical reasoning

comes the credibility of ethos in the voice of research. The research program not only has

already published research however it also has unfinished projects that the archive is

continuously uploading more as the researchers improve the information and dig deeper.
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The archive of letters are haunting collections of conversations of souls that are hanging

on to words to connect them to their only light of hope. The winds of time have not muffled

the cries and the calls to their loved ones. They beckon to know of the fate of their babies,

parents and spouses. The letters and stories told start with separation, then financial

hardships, perils and eventually lead to the pain of starvation and defeat. However, as

humanity always perseveres there is always a glimmer of hope from faith and belief for a better

end. They communicate words of support in the letters for their loved ones to “hold on” or

“stay strong” and “believe in God” all in the prayers that they will reunite. Sadly, most of the

families did not receive that pardon. No reunions. Instead, the later letters in 1941 mention

that they will be taken to camps and pray that God will help them overcome this suffrage. They

tried to stay with their families and survive the camps but starvation, mass murder, incinerators

and gas chambers were more than a willful spirit could conquer. Their voices are still loud in the

ears of the loved ones that have lost them.

Yad Vashem focuses primarily on victim’s voices of the mass genocide in their research,

letters, artifacts, name data bases, and every other digital collection presented. There is not

one letter, informational section, or piece of literary work from the Nazi governmental side of

the Holocaust. This is aesthetically pleasing because the majority of the audience, the audience

being society, believes that the holocaust was an unnecessary evil that was a historical disaster.

Providing documentation of the opposing side will dramatically increase the opinion that the

Yad Vashem Archive has to offer. By creating a Nazi military section or standpoint, this will

improve the variety of voices given and lay out all that the Holocaust has to offer.
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The voices of death haunt the Yad Vashem Archive not to evoke sadness but to prove

that these experiences will continue to linger as a reminder for society to not repeat history.

Scholarly research, documented journals with vast amount of identities in the data bases and

artifacts successfully serve the archive’s purpose by providing diverse support.