Eight decades after the Holocaust, its memory stands at a “crossroads,” with the number of survivors who can share their firsthand accounts of the Nazi-era atrocities dwindling, according to the head of an Israeli memorial center.
Dani Dayan, Chairman of Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem institution, emphasized that nothing can genuinely replace the “authentic voices” of those who experienced the systematic murders of Jewish people in recounting that painful chapter in history.
As survivors age and their numbers decrease, Mr. Dayan remarked, “we are essentially at a crossroads of generations,” in an interview leading up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday.
“In a few years, listening to a Holocaust survivor narrate their experience may no longer be possible. It’s unfortunate, but it’s inevitable.”
The median age of survivors is 86, with some exceeding 100 years, as noted in a study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
“Holocaust survivors have served as a bridge,” Mr. Dayan explained.
“On one end of the bridge, we look into their eyes and hear their stories; on the other side is Auschwitz. That connection will soon be lost.”
The Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by the Soviet Red Army in 1945.
“We will have to find new methods.”
This camp, which has become emblematic of the genocide that claimed six million European Jews, was established by Nazi Germany following its invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II.
Between 1940 and 1945, approximately one million Jews, along with over 100,000 other victims of the Nazi regime, perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Mr. Dayan, who became Yad Vashem’s director in 2022 after serving as Israel’s consul general in New York, stated that even as the day approaches when no survivors remain to share their narratives, the memorial center will persist in reminding the world of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz and throughout Europe.
Exploring Archives
Mr. Dayan mentioned that the memorial center will “continue to educate and disseminate the story of the horrific events that unfolded in civilised Europe during the 20th century.”
“We will have to adopt innovative approaches,” he asserted, “but without compromising authenticity.”
Yad Vashem boasts over 227.6 million pages of documentation, 2.8 million pages of testimonies, 541,500 Holocaust-era photographs, and countless artifacts and artworks.
Mr. Dayan indicated that the institution is exploring ideas such as creating holograms of survivors sharing their stories or establishing “satellite centers” across Israel and globally.
The gate of Auschwitz emblazoned with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work sets you free).
Recently, Yad Vashem, a vast campus on the western edge of Jerusalem, opened a theatre to present Holocaust-era narratives in innovative ways, along with a wing dedicated to preserving age-old artifacts donated by survivors and their families.
During a recent visit to the center, an AFP journalist observed a trained conservator meticulously cleaning and restoring a small Jewish prayer book dated 1944.
This book contained a handwritten note indicating that it somehow survived the horrors of Auschwitz.
Mr. Dayan remarked that such items, along with data and testimonies from survivors “who are still alive, lucid, and able to recount their experiences,” are continually being gathered from around the world.
With the number of Holocaust survivors diminishing, this effort has become more urgent and crucial than ever, he noted.
“We continue to search archives globally, despite already having the world’s largest archive for Holocaust documentation,” Mr. Dayan stated.
Amid a reported surge in anti-Semitism worldwide in the past year, he added that the imperative to “spread the word” about the Nazi persecution of Jews remains increasingly significant.
