Leading Holocaust Scholar Yehuda Bauer Passes Away at 98 in Jerusalem

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Yehuda Bauer, revered as one of Israel’s foremost Holocaust scholars who profoundly influenced global Holocaust studies, has passed away in Jerusalem at the age of 98. Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, announced his death on Friday evening but did not specify the cause.

Bauer’s illustrious career spanned over six decades, during which he published dozens of books and initiated numerous international Holocaust education programs. His linguistic proficiency in Czech, Slovak, German, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, French, Polish, and even Welsh from his time at Cardiff University, enabled him to engage directly with original source materials and diverse audiences around the globe.


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“One of his crucial insights was the universality of the Holocaust, not just as a specific atrocity affecting specific people but as an event that once occurred, became a part of human potential and a stark warning of what could happen again,” stated Dr. David Silberklang, a senior historian at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research, who collaborated with Bauer for years.

Born in Prague in 1926, Bauer’s family escaped the impending Nazi menace in 1939, relocating to British Mandate Palestine via Romania. Following his studies in Wales, Bauer joined Kibbutz Shoval in southern Israel and later attended the Hebrew University, eventually spending his later years in Jerusalem.

Bauer’s academic career commenced in the 1960s, coinciding with a period when Israel was beginning to speak more openly about the Holocaust. The immediate post-war years had seen survivors grappling with their traumas in silence, and Bauer emerged as one of the pioneering scholars to undertake rigorous research in a field too painful and raw for many to discuss.

Tackling the perception that European Jews went “like sheep to the slaughter,” Bauer’s research highlighted various forms of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, such as smuggling and maintaining religious or cultural traditions, thereby altering the narrative beyond mere armed struggle.

Among his noted publications are “American Jewry and the Holocaust,” exploring the American response to WWII; “Jews for Sale?” examining efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust; “Death of the Shtetl,” documenting the destruction of small Jewish communities in Europe; and “Rethinking the Holocaust,” which probes fundamental questions about defining and comparing the Holocaust to other genocides. Bauer connected deeply with non-academic audiences through his wide-ranging talks across the world.

In 1998, Bauer was instrumental in forming the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) alongside European leaders. This coalition of over 35 countries mandates Holocaust education and commemoration funding from its members. He also contributed to the IHRA’s Working Definition of Antisemitism, widely adopted to identify hate crimes against Jews.

Recognized with the Israel Prize, one of the nation’s highest accolades, Bauer remained actively engaged in scholarly and public discourse until his final days, regularly writing Op-Eds and participating in academic discussions. Notably, he disputed comparisons of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel to the Holocaust, pointing out the differences in scale and nature of the threats posed by Hamas versus the Nazis and emphasizing the defensive capacities of the modern Israeli state.

A music enthusiast, Bauer’s deep baritone often filled the air during duets with academic partners or in renditions of traditional Welsh folk songs from his student days. He is survived by two daughters, three step-children, and numerous grandchildren.