Yad Vashem (thing)

Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. It was established in 1953 by an act of the Israeli Knesset in order to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.

Yad Vashem's task is to perpetuate the legacy of the Holocaust to future generations so that the world will never forget the horrors and cruelty of the Holocaust. Its principal missions are commemoration and documentation of the events of the Holocaust, collection, examination and publication of testimonies to the Holocaust, collection and memorialization of the names of Holocaust victims, research and education. All in all, Yad Vashem is the world's top authority on just about everything related to the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem is situated on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance, in Jerusalem. There are two major museums, several exhibition halls, and the most important repository of information of the Holocaust in the world. Every year, more than 2,000,000 people visit Yad Vashem, including Heads of State.

Possibly the most moving part of Yad Vashem is a hall in memory of the children murdered in the Holocaust. The hall is dark, but there are one million lights, one for each child murdered.