American Society for Yad Vashem

12/31/2023

Effective January 1, 2024, the American Society for Yad Vashem, Inc. (ASYV) is no longer affiliated with Yad Vashem. As of such date, ASYV is no longer actively raising funds or conducting educational programming. Any funds received by ASYV after January 1, 2024, net of expenses, will be used for the long-term support of Yad Vashem.

For inquiries related to ASYV, please reach out through our contact page at [email protected].

To support Yad Vashem directly, please visit yadvashem.org.

12/22/2023

Please enjoy the latest issue of Martyrdom & Resistance.

Follow the link to read the publication: http://tinyurl.com/3p5xd95b

12/21/2023

This week we had a privilege of discussing the book "Memories in Focus" with it's author, Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter at our most recent Book Club.

Special thank you to event moderator Shael Rosenbaum, Canadian Society for Yad Vashem National Chair.

If you missed this, follow the link to watch the recording of the Book Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbXEDJt1jXU

12/19/2023

12/15/2023

“When he opened his mouth, I saw the gates of the crematorium.” - Michael Goldman-Gilad (1st photo), Holocaust survivor and Investigative Officer for the Eichmann Trial.

December 15, 1961, Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by the District Court in . One of the highest ranking SS officers, was in charge of implementing the plan for the “Final Solution.” Publicized globally, the trial brought the and the voices of the survivors to the world’s attention.

📷: Courtesy of Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem

12/14/2023

Holocaust survivor Jack Gruber z’l was born in Rudnik, Poland during , 1928.

When WWII broke out, the town of Rudnik fell under German rule. Rumors of violent antisemitism began to circulate and the family feared for their safety. Jack, along with his parents and younger brother David, hastily fled east. But their relief was short-lived. Armed officers appeared in the middle of the night and rounded up the refugee families. The Grubers were placed in cattle cars and sent more than 2,000 miles away to Siberia.

At just 12 years old, Jack found himself living on the frozen steppes of eastern Soviet Asia, performing manual labor to survive. In 1943, the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad and Jack made his way to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. After the war, Jack’s family returned to Poland, but the home they once knew was gone.

So in 1946, the Grubers slipped across the border to Austria. From there they went to Germany and remained in a DP camp until immigrating to America in 1950. Jack settled in New York where he met the love of his life, Sheba. He ran his own business for 62 years and raised a beautiful family, whom he inspired with his loving kindness and generous soul.

The look in Jack’s eyes as he embraces his great-granddaughter says it all - so much nachas! ❤️

📷: Courtesy of /

12/14/2023

A miracle menorah that has come to symbolize Jewish perseverance has made its way to the front lines of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner, took the photo of Hanukkah menorah on the window ledge of their family home looking out on to the building across the road decorated with N**i flags in 1931.

Posner’s great-grandson Raziel Gilo, a 35-year-old Israel Defense Forces reservist, brought the menorah to the Gaza border to inspire his unit.

“We face a brutal and terrifying enemy that wants to destroy Israel. This enemy doesn’t separate a religious Jew from a non-religious Jew. They want to kill every Jew because he or she is a Jew — exactly like the N**is tried to do.”

Last year, Posner’s granddaughter Nava Gilo and her brother Yehuda Mansbach brought the menorah to Germany for the first time in nearly 90 years.

It’s usually displayed at Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem except for Hanukkah, when the Posner family brings it to one of their homes and Mansbach takes it to Israeli schools to share “our important history and message” with kids, said Nava. “It’s very important that it’s not stuck in my generation.”

This year, Nava’s son, Raziel, a rabbi for his unit, asked to take the menorah with him to a base near the Gaza border where he drew the treasured family keepsake from his backpack and shared the story of its survival.

“In order to continue our humane life we have to destroy evil. We cannot accept or swallow it — we have to destroy evil,” Raziel, who lives in Lod, told his troop as he lit the candles. “In these days we see it in such a clear way that, if we don’t win, the darkness will swallow us. But this will not happen. We are here due to previous generations fighting against evil and we will win …"

📷: Raziel Gil
Source: New York Post

12/13/2023

New Date for ASYV'S VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB

The Book Club hosted by Young Leadership Associates, open to all.

"Memories in Focus"
By: Pinchas Gutter

Tuesday, December 19 at 12:00 PM EST / 9:00 AM PST

Join ASYV and Canadian Society for Yad Vashem as we sit down with Pinchas Gutter, Holocaust survivor and author of 'Memories in Focus'.

Moderated by Shael Rosenbaum, CSYV National Chair.

'Memories in Focus' recounts the harrowing journey of young Pinchas, separated from his family in the Warsaw ghetto and sent through a series of concentration camps starting at only 10-years-old. He fights to stay unnoticed during the war, but his photographic memory haunts him after liberation, leading to struggles with nightmares and emotional scars while raising a family. His journey spans England to Canada via various countries as he seeks belonging and eventually finds it in Canada.
This poignant narrative delves into suffering, injustice, and trauma, offering hope for the future. Today, Pinchas Gutter remains an active member of his community, serving as a synagogue cantor and sharing his story.

Follow the link to register for the event: https://tinyurl.com/t8ejjsuf

12/12/2023

Holocaust survivor Andrew Burian z"l, father of ASYV Board Member Lawrence Burian, was born December 12, 1930, in the small town of Buština, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine). He lived an idyllic childhood with a large extended family and the warmth of Jewish tradition.

But all that changed in 1944 when Andrew and his family were forcefully taken from their home and imprisoned in the Mátészalka Ghetto in Hungary. From there they were loaded into cattle cars and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival to the extermination camp, Andrew was separated from his family. His mother, grandfather, and great-uncle were immediately sent to the gas chambers, while his father and brother were sent to a labor camp.

At just 13 years old, Andrew found himself all alone in Birkenau. He spent nearly eight months in that hell, surviving countless selections and near-death experiences. When the N**is and their collaborators began evacuating the camp in January 1945, Andrew was placed on a death march in the freezing cold towards the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. He was later sent on a second death march to Gunskirchen where he was eventually liberated by the American Army.

Following the war, Andrew found his way to Vienna and then a hospital in Budapest where, by miraculous happenstance, he was reunited with his father and brother. His journey over the next 3 years took him to Prague, England, and ultimately, America. Andrew settled in New York where he met and married the love of his life, Ruth.

For decades, Andrew did not talk about the Holocaust, but he eventually broke his silence in order to educate future generations. He even wrote a book "A Boy from Bustina: A Son. A Survivor. A Witness." On the first page, there is a quotation from Andrew that says, “This is what happened to me. This is what I saw. There was not one Holocaust. There were six million Holocausts. I am witness.”

Today, Andrew’s children and many grandchildren, whom were his pride and joy, carry on his legacy as a witness.

May his memory forever be a blessing.

📷: Andrew and his son Lawrence, 2018 (pc: )

12/11/2023

Ariel Zohar celebrating his bar mitzvah with a pair of tefillin that was passed on by his Holocaust surviving grandfather and rescued from wrecked home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

Ariel Zohar lost his entire family on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked the kibbutz where they lived. This past Thursday, he celebrated his bar mitzvah while wearing the same tefillin his paternal grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, received from his own father when he was 13. A year later the N**is murdered both Ariel’s grandfather’s parents.

Despite the charred home, the tefillin stayed intact and was rescued by first responders, becoming a heartbreaking memory of the tragedy that befell the family.

One of the important guests at Thursday's bar mitzvah was Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. Lau, Chairman of the Council and former Chief Rabbi of Israel was one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald. He immigrated to Israel with his older brother Naftali after their entire family was murdered by the N**is. Rabbi Lau said to Ariel in front of the audience: "When my bar mitzvah party came around, my father had also been murdered, and my mother had been murdered, and I, like you, was already without parents." On an optimistic note, the rabbi added: "And yet I had a good life and achieved much. And you too will achieve, and you too will have a good life, because you see how many good people love you."

A group of professional NBA and NFL players recorded a special birthday video message for Ariel. "My prayers are with you,” Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat basketball team said. “I hope you keep your head high and enjoy this amazing day when you turn 13.”

📷: ZAKA and screenshot/Chabad Terror Victims Project.

Source: Forward and Israel Hayom