Message from Rami Hochman, Director of the Ghetto Fighters' House
On April 19, 1949, the sixth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a group of Holocaust survivors founded a new settlement in the Western Galilee – the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz. This was the first kibbutz to be established by a group of Holocaust refugees. On the same day as the ground-breaking of the kibbutz, the Ghetto Fighters' House – Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum was established. This was the first Holocaust museum in Israel and worldwide. The founders were a group of young people, fighters and leaders in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, ghetto fighters, partisans and members of the underground in the camps. With the founding of the kibbutz, they fulfilled a dream that had begun while still in the youth movements in the shadow of World War II, establishing a kibbutz for the sake of future generations and a House of Testimony for the sake of remembrance. Approximately 400 Holocaust museums exist around the world. The Ghetto Fighters' House is one of the largest institutes in the field of Holocaust education. Its uniqueness lies not only in being the first. It is also the first of its kind to be founded solely by Holocaust survivors, one of the few institutes situated in the heart of a thriving community, a pioneer in Holocaust research, artifact collection and, most important, true to the goal of education that was declared on the day of its establishment.
As the museum enters its 60th year, when its impact on Holocaust remembrance is recognized throughout Israeli society, we are preparing for challenges that the future may bring. This preparation is reinforced by the fact that we are at a crossroads where, with the disappearance of survivors, the Holocaust goes from being a memory to history.
I invite you to enjoy the new website, explore its pages, contribute your knowledge and experience in order to advance and develop it, and to come visit the museum when the opportunity arises. The Ghetto Fighters' House is updating and renovating not only in the virtual world. Its exhibitions are the most advanced in the museum world. In the new wing, advanced multi-media are used to improve and enhance the value-based experience the museum offers to all those who pass through our gate.
Hope to see you soon.
Rami Hochman |
