„RESCUED WITNESSES”
Simmy Allen, Yad Vashem
"We are the last line of defense before these irreplaceable Holocaust-era artifacts and documentation are lost to the passage of time," states Kami Amiran, Director of the Conservation Laboratory in Yad Vashem's Archives. "Yad Vashem's goal is to rescue and preserve these remnants so that they can bear witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust for generations to come."
For close to 65 years, Yad Vashem has been collecting, preserving and featuring artifacts, artworks, photographs and documentation from the Holocaust. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of items have been added to Yad Vashem's Collections and are being housed at the World Center for Holocaust Remembrance. Many of these artifacts and documents are used to enrich the public's knowledge and identification with the history of the Holocaust, displayed either in various exhibitions on the Mount of Remembrance and other locations around the world, or online on Yad Vashem's comprehensive website in eight languages.
"Along with these artifacts, we collect personal stories of the victims of the Shoah," remarks Yad Vashem's Museums Division Director Vivian Uria. "Yad Vashem makes it its mission to tell not only about the events of the Holocaust, the lives of the victims and the cherished items that belonged to them, but also about how these items survived and arrived here."
One artifact with a fascinating tale is the teddy bear that once belonged to Stella Knobel. Born in Krakow, Stella received the stuffed toy for her seventh birthday. After the outbreak of WWII, Stella, her mother Anna and her father Morton fled to the Soviet Union. There Morton joined the Polish army in the east. Stella and Anna followed him to Teheran, and from there they continued onto Eretz Israel. Throughout their wanderings, Stella's teddy bear accompanied and served her as a "friend and brother."
More than 75 years later, Yad Vashem received the artifact in a state of terrible disrepair. "The toy arrived crumbling, moth-eaten, and badly disintegrating due to the passage of time and unsuitable storage conditions," comments Yad Vashem Textiles Conservationist Alexandra Borovok. Yad Vashem preservation experts began the intricate and time-consuming work to repair the bear and conserve it, so that it may be viewed and its story told for generations to come. "Fashioned from animal fur, we cleaned it thoroughly of destructive pests and dirt, and carefully sewn back together," Borovok continued. "Regardless of the condition in which items arrive at Yad Vashem, we treat them with great respect and do our best to restore them to their former condition."
Yad Vashem's Mission to Restore Holocaust-era Items and Tell Their Unique Stories