The temporary Exhibition
During the Second World War, the Allies, led by the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain, participated against the Axis countries - Germany, Italy, and Japan.
It was an open struggle between the free world and the Nazi and Fascist regime.
This war took a heavy toll on humanity as a whole and especially on the Jewish people: 6 million of its sons and daughters perished in the Holocaust.
When the Allies announced a total mobilization in their countries for this war, the Jewish people responded to the call, mobilized in large numbers into the armies of the fighters and in percentages that usually exceeded their numbers in the general population in their countries and served in all arenas, soldiers, ranks and positions.
About a million and a half Jews fought in the war, about a quarter of a million of them fell on the various fronts.
While all the fighters fought for their freedom, the Jews also fought for the existence of the Jewish people.
As members of the Jewish people, wherever they are, we have a duty to remember the role of the fighters and the dignity of those who fell.
The Government of Israel decided to establish a museum that would perpetuate the Jewish fighter in World War II at the Yad LaShiryon site in Latrun.
We see the establishment of this museum, a unique site of its kind in the world, in which one of the rare chapters in the history of the Jewish people's heroism will be exposed.
The establishment of the museum was intended to correct the historic injustice of commemorating a million and a half Jewish fighters in World War II and its goals:
To tell and illustrate to the visitors the story of the fighting of the Jewish soldiers in the Allied armies, underground fighters and partisans during World War II, in achieving victory over Nazi Germany and the Axis countries.
To emphasize the chapter of Jewish heroism in one of the most tragic periods in the history of our people.
To note their contribution to the establishment of the IDF, to the victory in the War of Independence and the establishment of the State of Israel.
To serve as a center for the education of youth and IDF soldiers.
In Latrun, we established the "foyer", which presents basic and representative data on the participation of Jews in World War II, focusing on the story of the Jewish fighter in the war, and through it, to reveal its scope and variety.