Why a museum?
1,500,000 Jews fought in World War II.
250,000 Jewish fighters fell in the war.
Wherever the war was fought against the Nazi enemy and its accomplices, Jews fought in all armies, all arms, all units and all functions and ranks.
Jews everywhere were determined to assist to the utmost in the war effort. Many were enlisted, volunteered and joined the combat units, the partisans, the undergrounds, and all the Allied armies, in every role, ready to fulfill any mission.
The number of Jews who participated in the war was relatively high in comparison to the world.
Unfortunately, many, especially amongst the Jewish people and in Israel, are not aware of these figures.
World War II is generally associated by the public with the Holocaust and its victims.
Little was mentioned about the partisans and fighters of the ghettos, but most of the stories about Jewish fighting are mute.
The establishment of the Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II was intended to complement a missing chapter in the history of the Jewish people and their contribution to the destruction of the Nazi regime with all its racist ideas and the elimination of this regime's threat to its very existence.
If we want to know about our past and those who forged it, and to cultivate a feeling of respect for those who served in the War, we must bring of the role of the Jewish fighters in World War II the awareness of the public in general.
We must dispel the haze from the false story about the reaction of the Jewish people to Nazi aggression.
While the world in general was fighting for freedom, land and borders - the Jewish people was fighting for its life!
The Museum of the Jewish War in World War II will be a central element in building a culture of pride based on Jewish resistance.
The museum offers an opportunity for the Jewish people - to tell the chapter of heroism during the Holocaust.
For families - to commemorate their loved ones, and for the Jewish communities - to commemorate their heroes and their commitment to their countries.
The mission of the association
The Association for the Establishment of the Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II, was legally established on 30. 8.2006.
The goals are:
1. The establishment of a memorial site for the Jewish Soldier in World War II, in order to tell and illustrate the story of the fighting and heroism of 1.5 million Jewish fighters in the Allied armies, undergrounds and the partisans during World War II, and their contribution to achieving victory over Nazi Germany and the Axis countries. It also shows the contribution of the Jewish soldiers to the establishment of the IDF, to the victory in the War of Independence and the establishment of the State of Israel.
2. To maintain an information & educational center, to learn about the Jewish fighter in World War II and related subjects.
3. To hold seminars and theoretical activities on Jewish fighters in World War II.
4. To establish and manage funds to finance and assist scholarships, prizes or financial grants for works, publications, articles, studies, activities whose theme will be related to the memory and activities of the Jewish fighters in World War II.
5. To assist, as far as possible, in the publication of memoirs that were written written by, or about the fighters.