Holocaust-Memorial Architecture
Student Workshop at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
to be held on August 10 - 31, 1997

Preface

More than fifty years have passed since the Holocaust. In the nature of
things, the more distant we are from an historical event, the less
significance it has for us. Personal memory fades, and collective memory is
notoriously short.
Although the Shoah is a seminal event in history, the memory of the Shoah
might suffer similarly over the years. The survivors' generation, the
witnesses of the Shoah, were our inspiration for remembering the Holocaust,
and a motivating force to strengthen our efforts to ensure that this
appalling calamity should never be forgotten. We stand today at a historical
crossroads, which obligates us to take the necessary steps in order that the
torch of memory may be passed on to the third and fourth generations.
Yad Vashem, the Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, is the Jewish
people's most important institution for the commemoration and documentation
of the Holocaust. We must, therefore, use the last "historical minutes" to
expand our research facilities and prepare an effective response to the
changing needs of future generations in the 21st century. Contrary to usual
historical response, interest in the Shoah has increased in recent years.

The development plan "Yad Vashem 2001" was formulated to enable Yad Vashem
to respond to the enormous challenge with which it currently faces. The plan
has five main components which will be carried out parallel to existing
projects: the new archive building, the computerization of the data base,
the Central School for Holocaust Studies, the enlargement of the Historical
Museum and a new visitors' center.

On this specific background, the following activities are planned:

1) Holocaust-Memorial Architecture - Student Workshop

Yad Vashem, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, and the
Austrian organizations Gedenkdienst, Innsbruck, and Arche, Platform for
Intercultural Projects, Vienna, in conjunction with other institutions are
organizing an international student workshop and a series of activities
aimed at highlighting the subject of the Holocaust-memorial architecture.
The resulting ideas generated by the discussions of the students and young
architects could be an enriching contribution to the development plan "Yad
Vashem 2001".

The interactive workshop, to be held in English, will take place in Yad
Vashem on August 10 - 31, 1997. It will deepen the participants'
comprehension of the Shoah, its history and its implications, through a wide
range of lectures, excursions and discussion groups, as well as encourage
the students to offer suggestions and present them through architectural means.
Memorial architecture is a something of a stepchild within the architectural
spectrum. In order to compensate for this deficiency, interested students
will have an opportunity to attend the workshop under the patronage of Yad
Vashem. Seminar coordinators are Zeev Druckman and David Guggenheim
(Jerusalem), the lectures at the workshop include Elinoar Barzacchi (Tel
Aviv), Jean Pierre Le Dantec (Paris), Hermann Gruenwald (Norman, Oklahoma),
Antoine Grumbach (Paris), Laurent Israel
(Paris), Perla Kaufmann (Haifa), Daniel Mintz (Jerusalem), Raoul Pastrana
(Paris), Robert Jan van Pelt (Ontario), Anton Schweighofer (Vienna), and
Alexander Tzonis (Delft) as well as several guest lecturers.

The participants will receive academic credit for their projects. The
workshop's curriculum is multi-disciplinary, affording an eclectic approach
toward memorial architecture. It will furthermore raise questions about the
purpose of memorials, the current state of memorial architecture worldwide
etc. The international workshop aims to reinforce the students' knowledge
and sensitivity in the field of Holocaust.

2) Presentation
The results of the workshop - sketches, models, plans and photos - will be
displayed at an exhibition from the last day of the workshop until November
1997 in Jerusalem.

3) Exhibition tour
Planned exhibitions: At commemorative centers and architectural schools in
Israel, America and Europe.

4) Publication
A catalogue summarizing the achievements of the workshop and detailing the
students' projects will be published in November 1997.