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An exhibition at Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, puts Holocaust survivors at the heart the creation of an Israeli identity

REMEMBRANCE
On Thursday, Israel will mark Yom Hashoah.

The siren will sound, people will emerge from their cars, and stand still on the street. They will remember the deaths of six million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

That memory is there to be seen and read about every day, should you wish.

Rarely is there a day when the Israeli newspapers do not make some reference - at least in passing - to the Holocaust.

It is estimated that 250,000 survivors are still alive in Israel.

Now, as Israel approaches its 60th anniversary, Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, wants a reappraisal.

"It's a shame," says Yehudit Shendar, the curator of a major new exhibition about Holocaust survivors in Israel at Yad Vashem.


In pictures: Yad Vashem exhibition

"For the past year or two, the survivors have just been portrayed as 'miskenim', as unfortunates."

This has happened because of long-running arguments about measly government stipends.

What Ms Shendar wants to show is that these survivors have not just been passive recipients of Israeli citizenship, but that they helped create the very symbols of Israeli identity.

THESHOAH