A core goal of Yad Vashem's founders was to recognize non-Jews who, at personal risk and without financial or evangelistic motives, chose to save Jews from the ongoing genocide during the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem is proud that it is the second-most-visited Israeli tourist site, after the Western Wall, with approximately one million visitors each year.

Yad Vashem was first proposed in September 1942, at a board meeting of the Jewish National Fund, by Mordecai Shenhavi, a member of Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek.

A provisional board of Zionist leaders was established that included David Remez as chairman, Shlomo Zalman Shragai, Baruch Zuckerman, and Shenhavi.

On 19 August 1953, the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, unanimously passed the Yad Vashem Law, establishing the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, the aim of which was "the commemoration in the Homeland of all those members of the Jewish people who gave their lives, or rose up and fought the Nazi enemy and its collaborators," and to set up "a memorial to them, and to the communities, organizations and institutions that were destroyed because they belonged to the Jewish people.

"[9] On 29 July 1954, the cornerstone for the Yad Vashem building was laid on a hill in western Jerusalem, to be known as the Mount of Remembrance (Hebrew: Har HaZikaron); the organization had already begun projects to collect the names of individuals killed in the Holocaust; acquire Holocaust documentation and personal testimonies of survivors for the Archives and Library; and develop research and publications.

[10][11] The location of Yad Vashem on the western side of Mount Herzl – an area devoid of weighty historical associations, distinct from the Chamber of the Holocaust, founded in 1948 on Mount Zion[12][13] – was chosen because it was far from the Jerusalem city center, and the founders of the memorial site did not want to erect a grim, sorrowful memorial, amidst population concentration.

[27] In November 2008, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was appointed chairman of Yad Vashem's council, replacing Tommy Lapid.

[33] The members of the Yad Vashem directorate are Yossi Ahimeir, Daniel Atar, Michal Cohen, Avraham Duvdevani, Boleslaw (Bolek) Goldman, Vera H. Golovensky, Shlomit Kasirer, Yossi Katribas, Yehiel Leket, Dalit Stauber, Zehava Tanne, Shoshana Weinshall, and Dudi Zilbershlag.

[41] Yad Vashem seeks to preserve the memory and names of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, and the numerous Jewish communities destroyed during that time.

The International Institute for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, founded in 1993, offers guides and seminars for students, teachers, and educators, and develops pedagogic tools for use in the classroom.

[43][44][45] Yad Vashem operates a web site in several languages, including English,[46] German,[47] Hebrew,[48] Persian,[49] French,[50] Russian,[51] Spanish[52] and Arabic.

The new building, designed by Canadian-Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, consists of a long corridor connected to 10 exhibition halls, each dedicated to a different chapter of the Holocaust.

The old historical displays revolving around anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism have been replaced by exhibits that focus on the personal stories of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

[60][61] The first architect involved in the design of Yad Vashem was Munio Weinraub, who worked on the project from 1943 till the 1960s, together with his architectural partner Al Mansfield.

[62] The new Holocaust History Museum, designed by Moshe Safdie, is shaped like a triangular concrete prism that cuts through the landscape, illuminated by a 200-meter-long (656 ft) skylight.

Surrounding the platform is the circular repository, housing the approximately 2.7 million Pages of Testimony collected to date,[63] with empty spaces for those yet to be submitted.

Adjoining the hall is a study area with a computerized data bank where visitors can do online searches for the names of Holocaust victims.

One of Yad Vashem's tasks is to honor non-Jews who risked their lives, liberty, or positions to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The commission members, including historians, public figures, lawyers, and Holocaust survivors, examine and evaluate each case according to a well-defined set of criteria and regulations.

[71] Yad Vashem does not provide recognition to Toward end of the war Bernadotte negotiated with SS commander Himmler to save many Jews and others.

This enabled Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara to issue documents to large number of Jews with which they could then escape Kovno from the Nazis via the Soviet Union, reach Japan and from there find safety until end of the war in Shanghai.

However, the museum, itself, argued the declaration "contains highly problematic wording that contradicts existing and accepted historical knowledge in this field," and harshly disparaged the deal, saying the agreement would stifle free research about the subject.

In 2020 plans to appoint Effi Eitam to head the institutions have been criticized, due to alleged racist remarks made by the appointee.

[76][77] In summer 2023, a number of scholars, politicians and media figures have criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Kisch for an attempt to remove Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan from his position, noting that this reduces the independence and hence, credibility, of the institution.

Neither the Knesset nor the State Comptroller are willing to look into some serious faults in the content presented to the public even though Yad Vashem is in large part funded by the taxes.

Yad Vashem houses the world's largest collection of artwork produced by Jews and other victims of Nazi occupation in 1933–1945.

The Yad Vashem Art Department supervises a 10,000-piece collection, adding 300 pieces a year, most of them donated by survivors' families or discovered in attics.

[80] Included in the collection are works by Alexander Bogen, Alice Lok Cahana, Samuel Bak, and Felix Nussbaum.