On her "reunion" with her restored teddy bear, Stella recalled how the bear was like family to her "because I was an only child and so wanted a brother and sister... I clung to him... I had no other toys." In later years, she thought of burying it in her garden, but was afraid that someone would find it and throw it away. "The idea of [it] being thrown into a garbage can is terrible for me," she explained. "He symbolizes my life."
"The Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection holds great historical, social and cultural significance," echoes Michael Tal, Director of the Artifacts Department at Yad Vashem's Museums Division. "Together with all of our collections, its value is incalculable for both the Jewish people and all of humanity."
The results of Yad Vashem's efforts to gather Holocaust-era related items, as well as great advances made in recent years in preservation and conservation standards has created the need to build a state-of-the-art facility to house these invaluable collections. "These irreplaceable items must be stored in an appropriate facility consisting of state-of-the-art preservation laboratories, as well as storage areas using the latest in conservation technologies," explains Uria. "The new Shoah Heritage Collections Center, being built in the coming years as part of the new Shoah Heritage Campus, will properly preserve, catalogue, store and display priceless items like Stella's teddy bear."
"The Holocaust was a landmark event in world history that is still relevant to society today," stated Yad Vashem Archives Director and Fred Hillman Chair for Holocaust Documentation Dr. Haim Gertner. "The Nazis sought to murder all the Jews and to erase their identities and culture. The Holocaust created a huge void in the memory of the Jewish people and all of humanity. Yad Vashem was established in order to reverse this edict, and to perpetuate the loss in a way that is meaningful to each of the victims – most of whom did not even leave one photograph behind. The artifacts and archival materials that comprise our collections are firsthand witnesses to the terrible experiences their owners suffered at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators, and their return to life afterwards. Preserving these documents and objects and making them accessible allows us to restore to the victims their faces, their names, their hopes and their dreams – and, most importantly, their humanity."