Jerusalem, Israel Named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, Mount Herzl is the location of Jerusalem’s memorial district. It is home to the national and military cemeteries, as well as to the Yad Vashem, the Israeli national Holocaust memorial. Many of modern Israel’s leaders and heroes are buried here, as well as heroes and victims of the Holocaust. … [Read more...]
DEGANIA ALEF KIBBUTZ
Degania Alef, Israel The settlement of Dagania Alef near the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee was the first of one of modern Israel’s great institutions: the Kibbutz. Founded in the early 20th century by Jewish settlers who wished to work the land as farmers, it became famous as a successful commune which was later emulated by many similar communities around Israel. … [Read more...]
OLD TEL AVIV & THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE
Tel Aviv, Israel The city of Tel Aviv, an outgrowth of the ancient port of Jaffa, is the modern-day financial and diplomatic capital of Israel. Home of the nation’s busiest airport, it is the world’s gateway to Israel, and the first city most pilgrims see when visiting the Holy Land. Despite its size and importance, Tel Aviv is barely a century old. However, it boasts … [Read more...]
BRITISH LIBRARY & THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
London, England In 1917, at the height of World War I, the worldwide Zionist movement picked up momentum when the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, issued one of the most controversial documents of the 20th century: the Balfour Declaration. Actually composed by Alfred Milner, a member of the British war cabinet, the Balfour Declaration formally acknowledged … [Read more...]
YAD VASHEM MUSEUM
Jerusalem, Israel The catastrophic events of the Holocaust are so closely tied to the rebirth of the State of Israel that Hitler’s murder of six million European Jews will always be an integral part of the nation’s zeitgeist. It was the Holocaust that at last convinced the surviving Jews that there would never be peace for them among the other peoples of the world. It is … [Read more...]
AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU DEATH CAMP
Osweicim, Poland Throughout history, one of the saddest and darkest realities of religious and ethnic fundamentalism has been genocide. Jews, Christians, Muslims and others have all been victims of religious massacres at each other’s hands, but no such chapter of history has reached the heights of infamy as the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany under Hitler. Between … [Read more...]
DANISH JEWISH MUSEUM
Copenhagen, Denmark Not every story of the Holocaust had a heartbreaking and catastrophic ending. Such was the case of the Jews of Denmark, almost all of whom survived Hitler’s genocide thanks to the heroic and miraculous efforts of the Danish people. The tale of the escape of Denmark’s Jews to Sweden may be one of history’s greatest moments of courage and humanity. … [Read more...]
PAWIAK MUSEUM
Warsaw, Poland By the beginning of the 20th century, the idea of confinement to a ghetto as a way of life for Jews had been all but abolished. However, the concept was reintroduced and took on a whole new meaning under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. In the Third Reich, the ghettos of Europe went from being thriving Jewish neighborhoods to virtual prisons from which Jews … [Read more...]
ANNE FRANK HOUSE
Amsterdam, The Netherlands The somewhat misnamed Anne Frank House is actually a former office-warehouse building where the famous young Jewish girl lived in hiding with her family for two years. She chronicled her experience in one of history’s most famous diaries. Though there were many places throughout Nazi-occupied Europe where compassionate and courageous people … [Read more...]
HOUSE OF THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE
Wannsee, Germany The persecution and ostracization of the Jewish people was a keystone of the Nazi party platform from the moment of its inception, and these formally became public policy with the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. But it was not until 1942 that the terrifying idea of a ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question’ was officially implemented. On January … [Read more...]