Art News

Yad Vashem Gets Access to Polish Archives

WARSAW (AP).- Israel’s Holocaust museum Yad Vashem signed an agreement with Poland on Monday that gives it access to World War II-era documents held in archives across the eastern European country. The material, held in 34 state-run and provincial archives, mainly includes files produced by the Nazi German authorities who occupied Poland during the war. But some of the archives also contain materials produced by Jews imprisoned in ghettos, amounting to rare and precious wartime testimony of huge value to historians, according to Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. Shalev, who was in Warsaw for the signing, called it “a real step forward” for Holocaust researchers because it will give them easier access to material that has often been difficult for them to see, particularly during the communist era. In particular, Shalev said he hopes that it will help the museum, memorial and research institute in Jerusalem identify up to about 250,000 Holocaust victims in Poland who remain unide