:Chamber of the Holocaust

thumb

The memorial was inaugurated on 30 December 1949 by the Ministry of Religion and its Director-General, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Zangvil Kahane, whose purview included Mount Zion.{{cite journal |last1=Bar |first1=Doron |title=Holocaust Commemoration in Israel During the 1950s: The Holocaust Cellar on Mount Zion |journal=Jewish Social Studies |date=Fall 2005 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=19 |publisher=Indiana University Press|doi=10.2979/JSS.2005.12.1.16 |s2cid=162385688 }} That same year, Kahane oversaw the on-site burial of ashes of victims from the Oranienburg concentration camp{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_KNdfB3vrgC&q=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&pg=PA99 |page=99 |title=Perfect Heroes: The World War II parachutists and the making of Israeli collective memory |first=Judith Tydor |last=Baumel-Schwartz |year=2010 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0299234843 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055117/https://books.google.com/books?id=3_KNdfB3vrgC&pg=PA99&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chamber%20of%20the%20holocaust%20mount%20zion&f=false |url-status=live }} together with desecrated Torah scrolls recovered from Nazi Europe.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLsWAQAAIAAJ&q=chamber+holocaust |pages=47–48 |title=Between Memory and History: The evolution of Israeli historiography of the Holocaust, 1945–1961 |first=Orna |last=Kenan |year=2003 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-0820458052 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055114/https://books.google.com/books?id=hLsWAQAAIAAJ&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&q=chamber+holocaust&hl=en |url-status=live }}

In contrast to Yad Vashem, the government's official Holocaust memorial museum established in 1953 on Mount Herzl – a new site symbolizing rebirth after destruction – the Chief Rabbinate chose Mount Zion as the site for the Chamber of the Holocaust because of its proximity to David's Tomb, which symbolically connotes ancient Jewish history and the promise of messianic redemption (through the Messiah, son of David).{{cite book|title=On Memory: An Interdisciplinary Approach|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zBE_q09a5mgC&pg=PA43|first=Arye|last=Edrei|chapter=Holocaust Memorial|editor=Doron Mendels|page=43|isbn=978-3-03911-064-3|date=2007-06-07| publisher=Peter Lang |access-date=2021-02-04|archive-date=2014-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705103114/http://books.google.com/books?id=zBE_q09a5mgC&pg=PA43|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|journal=ShiurTimes|date=May 6, 2008|pages=36–37|url=http://issuu.com/shiurtimes/docs/may2008|first=Yehudit|last=Singer|title=60 Years of Commemorating the Holocaust|access-date=April 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110182920/http://issuu.com/shiurtimes/docs/may2008|archive-date=November 10, 2013|url-status=live}}

Scholars have noted that the somber ambience of the museum, whose dank, cave-like rooms{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ay4YLEhc_rUC&q=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&pg=PA274 |title=The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective story from Buchenwald to New Orleans |pages=274–275 |first=Mark |last=Jacobson |year=2010 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1416566274 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055111/https://books.google.com/books?id=ay4YLEhc_rUC&pg=PA274&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chamber%20of%20the%20holocaust%20mount%20zion&f=false |url-status=live }} are illuminated by candelight,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFatRBsSHIMC&q=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&pg=PA182 |page=182 |title=Frommer's Israel |first=Robert |last=Ullian |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0470618202 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055059/https://books.google.com/books?id=sFatRBsSHIMC&pg=PA182&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chamber%20of%20the%20holocaust%20mount%20zion&f=false |url-status=live }} is meant to portray the Holocaust as a continuation of the "death and destruction" that plagued Jewish communities throughout history.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOckAQAAMAAJ&q=chamber |page=99 |title=The Holocaust in Israeli Public Debate in the 1950s: Ideology and memory |year=2007 |publisher=Vallentine Mitchell |first=Roni |last=Stauber |isbn=978-0853037231 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055116/https://books.google.com/books?id=FOckAQAAMAAJ&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&q=chamber&hl=en |url-status=live }}

The museum features a large courtyard and ten exhibition rooms. The walls of the courtyard plus several rooms and passages are covered with tombstone-like plaques{{cite web |url=http://www.goisrael.gov.il/tourism_heb2/attractions/Pages/Martef%20Ha-Sho%27a.aspx |title=Chamber of the Holocaust |language=Hebrew |publisher=Ministry of Tourism, Government of Israel |accessdate=May 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010140559/http://www.goisrael.gov.il/tourism_heb2/attractions/Pages/Martef%20Ha-Sho'a.aspx |archive-date=October 10, 2013 |url-status=dead }} inscribed in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English, memorializing more than 2,000 Jewish communities destroyed during the Holocaust.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fG8WAQAAIAAJ&q=walls+plaques |title=A guide to Jewish genealogical research in Israel |page=67 |first=Sallyann |last=Amdur Sack |year=1995 |publisher=Avotaynu |isbn=978-0962637377 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055130/https://books.google.com/books?id=fG8WAQAAIAAJ&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&q=walls+plaques&hl=en |url-status=live }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRc9ea_CKOUC&q=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&pg=RA1-PA371 |title=Israel and the Palestinian Territories: The Rough Guide |page=371 |first1=Daniel |last1=Jacobs |first2=Shirley |last2=Eber |first3=Francesca |last3=Silvani |year=1998 |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=978-1858282480 |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055114/https://books.google.com/books?id=TRc9ea_CKOUC&pg=RA1-PA371&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chamber%20of%20the%20holocaust%20mount%20zion&f=false |url-status=live }} These plaques were generally sponsored by survivors from those communities, and survivors hold memorial services here on the anniversary of their town's destruction.

Below is an example, accompanied by a translation of the text:

File:Pzcedcz Jewish memorial plaque.jpg

In eternal memory

In memory of the souls of our dear friends, the martyrs of our city

Przedecz (Pshaytsh)

(Włocławek district)

who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, may their names be obliterated

in Chełmno on the 7th day of Iyar, [5]742 [Anno Mundi], 24 April 1942

and in the other places of extermination, may God avenge their blood

The memorial day was established as the 7th day of Iyar

May their lives be bound in the bundle of the living

Their holy memory immortalized by the survivors of our city

in Israel and in the Diaspora.

{{Clear}}

thumb

Many of the museum's exhibits display religious artifacts such as a bloodstained Torah scroll from Węgrów, Poland, and a handwritten prayer book from the Buchenwald concentration camp. Other exhibits include "purses, shoe soles, drums and wallets made from the parchments of Torah scrolls", a coat sewn from Torah parchments which was worn by a Nazi officer, a prisoner uniform from the Auschwitz concentration camp, and a recreation of the gas oven used in the crematoria of concentration camps.{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaustchamber.org/exhibitions.htm|title=Chamber of the Holocaust Exhibitions|publisher=The Chamber of the Holocaust|accessdate=14 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104232404/http://holocaustchamber.org/exhibitions.htm|archive-date=4 January 2012|url-status=dead}} The museum also includes urns with the ashes of Holocaust victims from 36 Nazi death camps{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyEkAQAAIAAJ&q=chamber+36+death+camps |title=Israel government year-book |page=331 |year=1967 |last1=Israel |last2=Merkaz Ha-Hasbarah |first2=Israel |last3=Miśrad Ha-Ḥinukh Ṿeha-Tarbut |first3=Israel |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055114/https://books.google.com/books?id=oyEkAQAAIAAJ&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust+mount+zion&q=chamber+36+death+camps&hl=en |url-status=live }} and "RIF" soap allegedly manufactured by the Nazis from human fat. There is also an exhibit on neo-Nazism with a selection of modern-day antisemitic literature.{{cite book|last=Jacobs|first=Daniel|title=Jerusalem: The Mini Rough Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60ekWVd-Xu4C&q=chamber+of+the+holocaust&pg=PA138|accessdate=25 April 2012|year=2000|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1858285795|page=138|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204055119/https://books.google.com/books?id=60ekWVd-Xu4C&pg=PA138&dq=chamber+of+the+holocaust&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chamber%20of%20the%20holocaust&f=false|url-status=live}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=33em}}

{{commons category|Chamber of the Holocaust Museum}}

• [https://martefhashoa.org/ Chamber of the Holocaust] Official Webpage
• {{Facebook}}
• [https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-jerusalem-museums-remembering-the-shoah-in-their-own-ways/ Overshadowed and overlooked, Shoah museum aims to carve niche] - Times of Israel
• [http://www.jpost.com/In-Jerusalem/Visiting-the-little-known-Chamber-of-the-Holocaust-460399 Visiting the Little-Known Chamber of the Holocaust] - Jerusalem Post
• [http://www.gojerusalem.com/items/241/Chamber-of-the-Holocaust/ Chamber of the Holocaust] - Go Jerusalem

{{Tourism in Jerusalem}}

Category:Holocaust museums

Category:Monuments and memorials in Israel

Category:Museums in Jerusalem

Category:Organizations established in 1948

Category:History museums in Israel

Category:Mount Zion

Category:Jewish museums in Israel