The new offices of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem were inaugurated in April 2001, in the presence of Prime Minister Ehud Barak (left), and the donor, Danek Gertner, a Holocaust survivor living in Austria. The International Institute for Holocaust Research was established as an independent academic entity in 1993, in order to expand Holocaust research, and to encourage advanced research projects in the field.

The new offices of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, situated on the first floor of the renovated Administration and Research Building, were inaugurated in April 2001. 

The Jacob Buchman Foundation Memorial Prize is awarded annually to authors, artists and researchers for their work on the Holocaust. The 2004 Memorial Prize was awarded to Dr. Yitzhak Arad, for his book, The History of the Holocaust – Soviet Union and Annexed Territories. 

The Danek Gertner Yad Vashem PhD Scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding young doctoral candidate studying in one of the universities in Israel and completing the final year of research.
In 2003, the scholarship was awarded to Ronit Fisher of Haifa University.
Photo: Danek Gertner with scholarship recipient Dr. Ronit Fisher.

Prof. David Bankier has been the Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research since the year 2000.  Prof. Bankier is a member both of Yad Vashem’s Scientific Committee and of the Yad Vashem Studies Editorial Board, and is also the incumbent of the John Najmann Chair of Holocaust Studies.  His doctoral thesis focused on: “German Society and National Socialist Antisemitism 1933-38”.

Prof. Dan Michman has been the Chief Historian of Yad Vashem and Chairman of the Scientific Committee since the year 2000. He is a professor of modern Jewish history at Bar Ilan University. He wrote his doctoral thesis on: “Jewish Refugees from Germany and Holland 1933-1940”.

The International Institute for Holocaust Research holds research seminars, symposia and international conferences on the Holocaust. Gatherings for research scholars are held several times a year, and international conferences are held once every two years.
Photo: a packed auditorium during a lecture given at the international research conference held at Yad Vashem in November 2004.  

Prof. Raul Hilberg of Vermont University, one of the world’s leading Holocaust researchers, participates in the closing session of the international research conference held at Yad Vashem in November 2004.