Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, was established in 1953 by an act of the Israeli Knesset. Since its inception, Yad Vashem has been entrusted with documenting the history of the Jewish people during the Holocaust period, preserving the memory and story of each of the six million victims, and imparting the legacy of the Holocaust for generations to come through its archives, library, school, museums and recognition of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Located on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance, in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem is a vast, sprawling complex of tree-studded walkways leading to museums, exhibits, archives, monuments, sculptures, and memorials.

The Archive collection, the largest and most comprehensive repository of material on the Holocaust in the world, comprises 62 million pages of documents, nearly 267,500 photographs along with thousands of films and videotaped testimonies of survivors. These may be accessed by the public and read and viewed in the appropriate rooms.

The Library houses more than 90,000 titles in many languages, thousands of periodicals and a large number of rare and precious items, establishing itself as the most significant Holocaust library in the world. Holdings may be accessed by the public on site, and residents of Israel are entitled to limited borrowing privileges.

The Hall of Names is a tribute to the victims by remembering them not as anonymous numbers but as individual human beings. The "Pages of Testimony" are symbolic gravestones, which record names and biographical data of millions of martyrs, as submitted by family members and friends. To date Yad Vashem has computerized 3.2 million names of Holocaust victims, compiled from approximately 2 million Pages of Testimony and various other lists.

The International School for Holocaust Studies is the only school of its kind in the world. With 17 classrooms, a modern multimedia center, resource and pedagogical center, an auditorium and over 100 educators on its staff, the school caters annually to over 100,000 students and youth, 50,000 soldiers, and thousands of educators from Israel and around the world. Courses for teachers are offered in 8 languages other than Hebrew, and the school also sends its professional staff around the world for the purpose of Holocaust education. The team of experts at the school is developing a variety of educational programmes and study aids on the Holocaust including advanced multimedia programs, maps, books, cassettes and other educational aids.

The International Institute for Holocaust Research coordinates and supports research on national and international levels, organizes conferences and colloquia and publishes a variety of important works on the Holocaust, including memoirs, diaries, historical studies, a scholarly annual and such like.

The Yad Vashem Studies is a series of 32 volumes to date, comprising conference proceedings and scholarly articles on every aspect of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem Publications has a growing catalogue of Hebrew and English publications including history books, diaries and document collections. Yad Vashem has published over 200 books to date, which constitute the backbone of Holocaust literature in Israeli society. In recent years, 24 books have been published annually

The new Holocaust History Museum occupies over 4,200 square meters, mainly underground. Both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, it presents the story of the Shoah from a unique Jewish perspective, emphasizing the experiences of the individual victims through original artifacts, survivor testimonies and personal possessions.

The Art Museum is a testimony to the strength of the human spirit and holds the world's largest and most important collection of Holocaust art. It includes works of art that were created under the inconceivably adverse conditions of the Holocaust and a selection of works done after the war by Holocaust survivors and by other artists.

Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day: In 1953, the Israeli Knesset passed a law that provided for the commemoration of the Holocaust on the 27th Nissan, a date that usually falls towards the end of April or the beginning of May. It is marked at Yad Vashem by a solemn state ceremony at Warsaw Ghetto Square, attended by many dignitaries, in which the President and the Prime Minister of the State of Israel participate. The public is invited to attend, however tickets must be obtained in advance. These are available from Yad Vashem free of charge. The next morning, a wreath-laying ceremony is held in Warsaw Ghetto Square followed by the "Unto Every Person There is a Name" ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance where the public is invited to read out the names of Jewish Holocaust victims. The main traditional memorial ceremony is held in the Hall of Remembrance and the day concludes with a youth movement ceremony.

Victory in Europe (VE) day: The Allied victory over Nazi Germany on May 8/9, 1945 is observed annually in a commemorative state ceremony held at the Memorial to the Jewish Soldiers at Yad Vashem. The special guests of the ceremony are the war veterans themselves. The public is cordially invited to attend.

Over sixty years have passed since the end of the Holocaust. Today we live in an age of information, instant communication and progressive technology. Having entered the 21st century, Yad Vashem faces such basic questions as: what will be the fate of Holocaust commemoration amongst members of the fourth generation, both Jewish and non-Jewish? What place will it occupy in the midst of the currents that are sweeping us into the third millenium? Will remembrance be meaningful in the context of contemporary events? How should we prepare ourselves at this historic juncture? Yad Vashem launched a major Development Plan with six central components to meet these challenges:

• The central piece is the expansion and renewal of the entire museum complex in a space approximately three times larger than the current museum. It includes a Holocaust History Museum rich in authentic artifacts and documents, the Art Museum displaying the world's most extensive collection of Holocaust Art and a new area for temporary exhibits. The new Museum was dedicated on March 15, 2005

• A new enlarged entrance plaza and orientation buildings have been added so as to bridge the chasm between the everyday world around us and the hallowed memorial site, preparing the visitor for the Yad Vashem experience. It also provides services and amenities.

• Yad Vashem is stretching its resources in order to accelerate the collection of a wide range of materials: documents from Europe; videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors; rare artifacts retained by the generation that lived through these events; recording the names of all those who perished and more. The expanded collection is housed in the new archive building, which was officially opened March 2000.

• Education is the key for commemoration. In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the International School for Holocaust Studies was officially opened in December 1999.

• Promotion of research by scholars at the International Institute for Holocaust Research.

• The complete computerization of Yad Vashem's documentation system, including the millions of names of Jewish victims in the Hall of Names. This will make the retrieval system among the most advanced and accessible to the public worldwide. The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, containing  3 million names of Holocaust victims went online in November 2004

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