The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations ( he, גַן חֲסִידִי אוּמות הָעוֹלָם) is part of the much larger
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
complex located on the
Mount of Remembrance in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Along with some two dozen different structures within the Yad Vashem memorial – which is the second most-visited destination in the country after the
Western Wall
The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط ...
– the Garden of the Righteous is meant to honor those
non-Jews
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jews, Jew". Other Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites, groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More ra ...
who during the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
risked their lives to save
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
from extermination by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
.
The Garden was designed by landscape architects
Lipa Yahalom
Lipa or LIPA (Cyrillic: Липа) may refer to:
Acronym
*Liquid Isopropyl alcohol
*League for Independent Political Action, a former American progressive political organization
*Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a performing arts school in ...
and
Dan Zur
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...
after a decision to construct a memorial where the names of the
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
would be perpetuated. A most serene site of impressive simplicity, integrated into the natural surroundings of the forested hill, the Garden consists of a series of walls creating open rooms, where the names of all the Righteous who had no trees planted in their honor are engraved in alphabetical order on the walls according to their countries of origin. By the time the Garden was dedicated on August 7, 1996, close to 14,000 Righteous had been honored by Yad Vashem. Since then new names are being added every year. In 2011, the Garden was expanded and new walls were constructed.
The entire site receives one million visitors annually.
Background
The Garden of the Righteous initiative was launched in 1992 by Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlberg. Around the site trees are planted everywhere, with plaques attached to each one with names and countries of origin of those being honored. They are most prominent in the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations ''(also pictured)'' meant specifically for that purpose, with around 2,000 trees.
Other points of interest in the complex aside from the Garden include: the Visitors' Center, Book and Resource Center, the Holocaust History Museum, the Hall of Names, the Square of Hope, the Holocaust Art Museum, the Synagogue, the Exhibitions Pavilion, the Visual Center, the Learning Center, Hall of Remembrance, Pillar of Heroism, Children's Memorial,
Janusz Korczak
Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ma ...
Square, Archives and Library Building, Family Plaza, International School for Holocaust Studies,
Administration and Research Building, Monument to the Jewish Soldiers, Partisans' Panorama, Valley of the Communities, the
Cattle Car Memorial to the Deportees,
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
Square, the Wall of Remembrance and others.
Commitment
The Garden prominently features the Wall of Honor for each country on which the names of the Righteous are inscribed. Also, the ceremonies of granting the awards are held in the Garden.
There are three degrees of reverence granted to rescuers including those already deceased and their relatives; the presentation of the Title usually in the recipient's country by an ambassador, a special Medal in their name with Diploma awarded in Jerusalem, and the planting of a tree in the Garden of the Righteous.
In 2010, the Square of Hope was dedicated in the honor of New York and Israeli real estate investor
Henry Moscowitz.
The American & International Societies for Yad Vashem bulletin
November 7, 2010
External links
The Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations
at Yad Vashem website
The Dedication of the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations
at Yad Vashem website
Notes and references
*
{{Authority control
Monuments and memorials in Israel
Museums in Jerusalem
History museums in Israel
Gardens in Israel
Yad Vashem