For the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem will open on Thursday the first-ever permanent exhibition in Indonesia revolving around the genocide of Jews at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
The exhibition — entitled "The Holocaust — How Was it Humanly Possible?" — will open its gates at Shaar HaShamayim Synagogue on the Southeast Asian country's Sulawesi Island and will serve as a Holocaust museum.
Although Israel does not maintain official diplomatic ties with the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, representative of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem — Richelle Budd Caplan — will take part at the showing's inaugural event via video link and will address the importance of commemorating the Holocaust through exhibitions, archival materials and especially through the personal diaries of victims.
"We see great importance in physically presenting Yad Vashem's knowledge and content outside… Jerusalem, and we are happy to cover new grounds like Indonesia," said Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan.
"We will be happy to open an exhibition wherever there's interest in the memory of the Holocaust and its commemoration, and all the more so in the largest Muslim country in the world."
The showing in Indonesia is one of Yad Vashem's 65 Ready to Print exhibitions to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day that will be displayed in schools, universities and community centers around the world.