Martef Hashoah Museum: Jerusalem’s Presence From the Past

Authors

  • Gabriel Mayer University of Haifa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.510.5242

Keywords:

history, holocaust, museal studies

Abstract

Martef Hashoah Museum was founded in 1948 and it was the very first Holocaust museum in Israel. The words translate literally into the “Holocaust Cellar” and some have commonly referred to it as the Chamber of the Holocaust. The primary objective during the founding years was to commemorate and sanctify the martyrs who perished in the Holocaust. In Judaism, martyrdom is called Kiddush Hashem, a meaning that defines “the sanctification of G_d’s name.“  This article’s purpose is to elucidate the narrative as regards the foundational ideology as well as the earliest efforts of the state [Israel] to incorporate commemoration with a distinctly spiritual tome that would be in keeping with the depth of sadness and loss following the Shoah. What happened in the interim years, from then until now has lacked some clearly defined terms and adjustments to account for what it is today and what it was in the beginning.

Author Biography

Gabriel Mayer, University of Haifa

Dr. Gabriel Mayer served as Head Historian of the Martef Hshoah Museum, Jerusalem during the years 2015-2017.

References

Bar, Doron. 2004. "Re-creating Jewish Sanctity in Jerusalem: Mount Zion and David's Tomb, 1948–67." Journal of Israeli History 23 (2):260-278.

Bar, Doron. 2005. "Holocaust Commemoration in Israel During the 1950s: The Holocaust Cellar on Mount Zion." Jewish social studies 12 (1):16-38.

Bar, Gideon. 2008. "Reconstructing the past: the creation of Jewish sacred space in the state of Israel, 1948–1967." israel studies:1-21.

Baumel, Judith Tydor. 1995. "“In everlasting memory”: Individual and communal Holocaust commemoration in Israel." Israel Affairs 1 (3):146-170.

Baumel, Judith Tydor. 2001. "" In perfect faith": Jewish religious commemoration of the Holocaust." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 30 (1):5-21.

Berlin, Adele, and Marc Zvi Brettler. 2004. The Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation: Oxford University Press, USA.

Brog, Mooli. 2002. "In Blessed Memory of a Dream: Mordechai Shenhavi and Initial Holocaust Commemoration Ideas in Palestine, 1942–1945." Yad Vashem Studies 30:297-336.

Brog, Mooli. 2003. "Victims and victors: Holocaust and military commemoration in Israel collective memory." Israel Studies 8 (3):65-99.

Cohn, Nechama. 2015. Interview Nechama Cohn. edited by Gabriel Mayer.

Cohn, Nechama. 2015, October 13. Interview: Recollections of Rabbi Kahana and Martef Hashoah. edited by G. Mayer.

Denton, Chad B, and Heike Weber. 2018. "Bones of Contention: The Nazi Recycling Project in Germany and France During World War II." In Coping with Hunger and Shortage under German Occupation in World War II, 119-139. Springer.

Dreyfus, Jean-Marc. 2015. "The transfer of ashes after the Holocaust in Europe, 1945–60." Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (2):21-35.

Dubnova-Ėrlikh, Sofii͡a, and Sophie Dubnov-Erlich. 1991. The Life and Work of SM Dubnov: Diaspora Nationalism and Jewish History: Indiana University Press.

Evans, Matt. 2011. "Exacerbating social cleavages: The media's role in Israel's religious-secular conflict." The Middle East Journal 65 (2):234-250.

Farbstein, Esther. 2007. Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership During the Holocaust. Vol. 1: Feldheim Publishers.

Funkenstein, Amos. 1989. "Collective memory and historical consciousness." History and Memory 1 (1):5-26.

Interview: Shalev, Avner. Aug. 30, 2015. "Chairman of the Directorate of Yad Vashem."

Israel, Heritage Conservation in. 2018. "Minhal Shimur." http://www.iaa-conservation.org.il/index_eng.asp.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 1995. "Theorizing heritage." Ethnomusicology 39 (3):367-380.

Mayer, G. 2015. Inerview: Zvi Inbar. edited by Gabriel Mayer.

Montefiore, Simon Sebag. 2011. Jerusalem: the biography: Knopf.

Ofer, Dalia. 2013. "We Israelis remember, but how? The memory of the Holocaust and the Israeli experience." Israel Studies 18 (2):70-85.

Oren, Stephen. 1973. "Continuity and Change in Israel's Religious Parties." Middle East Journal 27 (1):36-54.

Stier, Oren Baruch. 2010. "Torah and Taboo: Containing Jewish Relics and Jewish Identity at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum." Numen 57 (3):505-536.

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2018-10-14

How to Cite

Mayer, G. (2018). Martef Hashoah Museum: Jerusalem’s Presence From the Past. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 5(10). https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.510.5242