"Above the death-pits and with the flag of Israel waving on high": the structure and meaning of Israeli youth missions to Poland of the Shoah

Discusses educational and sociological aspects of the organized visits of Israeli youth to Holocaust sites in Poland, sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Education since 1988. The Ministry is also involved in the organization and planning of the educational and ceremonial aspects of these visits. Views the state-organized programs as a Zionist response to the Holocaust, dedicated to commemoration of those who died and to the transmission of communal memory. Identification of the participants (high-school age Israelis) with the Holocaust survivors who accompany the groups turns the young people themselves into witnesses who then internalize the Holocaust memory.