Horror on the Wall

Yad Vashem is far more than a remembrance institution. For decades, the Yad Vashem Historical Museum has been one of the principal sites where the Israeli narrative of the Holocaust has been shaped, defined, and transmitted to generations of visitors from Israel and around the world. But how did this narrative develop? What values, messages, and interpretations did the exhibition designers seek to convey to the public? And how has Holocaust memory changed over the years? Dr. Yohai Cohen examines the development of Yad Vashem’s historical exhibitions, drawing on extensive archival research and the discovery of rare materials, he analyzes how key themes in Holocaust memory have been shaped and presented. The book offers an original perspective on exhibitions as a symbolic, cultural, and political system that reflects transformations in historiography, national identity, and Israeli society’s relationship with its past, it introduces a new research tool for understanding how memorial institutions shape historical consciousness and influence the formation of collective identity. Horror on the Wall is a groundbreaking study that offers a fresh and thought-provoking interpretation of how the Holocaust is transformed from a historical event into a national narrative—and what this narrative reveal about Israeli society itself.