New York City names street ‘Yad Vashem Way’ amid rampant antisemitism

NEW YORK — Officials in New York City on Thursday named a street after Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum and memorial, amid surging antisemitism and widespread ignorance about the Nazi genocide.

“This is a reminder, a memory. In some sense, it’s a monument to the Shoah,” said Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

The new street sign was unveiled at a ceremony on Thursday morning attended by municipal and Israeli officials. The street is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on 67th Street, between 3rd Avenue and 2nd Avenue, near Park East Synagogue.

The site was chosen due to its proximity to the synagogue, said Dayan, Israel’s former consul-general in New York.

The synagogue’s chief rabbi, Arthur Schneier, a Holocaust survivor, called the event “a very personal and emotional moment.”

“I could have been one of the one-and-a-half million children who never made it,” he said.

“People will walk by and see this sign, Yad Vashem Way. I hope they will learn more by going to Jerusalem,” where Yad Vashem is located, he said.

The street naming took place as part of this week’s events for Holocaust Remembrance Day. After the ceremony on the street corner in the biting winter cold, the officials gathered at Park East Synagogue for speeches and a performance by the congregation’s children’s choir.

Antisemitism has surged in New York City since the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel. Last year, Jews were targeted in hate crimes in the city more than all other groups combined, according to NYPD data. Before the Hamas attack, Jews were also the most targeted group in hate crimes.

The lamp pole bearing the Yad Vashem Way sign bore hostage posters tattered by vandals and stickers of the Israeli flag with its Star of David scratched off. A flyer showing Omer Neutra, a hostage from New York whose death was announced last month, had been defaced with red marker.

A series of studies have also found widespread ignorance about the Holocaust in the US and abroad. A survey by the Anti-Defamation League released earlier this month found that less than half of adults worldwide believed the mainstream narrative of the genocide.

The street naming was a months-long initiative that highlighted the close ties between the municipal government, Jewish community and Israeli officials, despite the fraught politics surrounding the Middle East conflict.

Officials in attendance included Israel’s consul-general in New York, Ofir Akunis; US Representative Jerry Nadler; Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine; and New York City Councilmember Julie Menin, a member of the city’s Jewish caucus and a descendant of survivors; and Councilmember Keith Powers, who represents the area. Representatives from the mayor’s office also attended, and Mayor Eric Adams signed a proclamation declaring January 30 “Yad Vashem Way Day.”

Powers said Park East began discussing the street naming more than six months ago with the mayor’s office. They brought the proposal to Powers, who sponsored a resolution in the city council, which was approved several months ago.

Organizers wanted to name the street this week, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

Powers described the sign as a long-lasting memorial for neighborhood residents, and a step in combating antisemitism.

“The general notion is making sure that we are doing our duty to say, ‘Never again,’ but also that it’s a very deeply concerning rise in antisemitism throughout the city,” Powers said.

“I hope, and I believe, that when people will pass through Yad Vashem Way, it will bring them to reflection, to reflect about the past,” Dayan said. “It’s also about the present. How is it barely 80 years after the Shoah, antisemitism is rampant again? And about the future — what should be done to build a better way?”

There are several other streets in the city named for Jewish figures, including Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel and former prime minister Golda Meir.