Global Jewry pays tribute to professor and Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer

Professor Yehuda Bauer, who passed away on Friday at 98 years old, will be remembered for his expansive contributions to humanity through his work studying the Holocaust, the USC Shoah Foundation and International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance said.

Before he achieved the esteemed titles of professor emeritus of history and Holocaust studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, academic advisor to Yad Vashem, and honorary chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, he escaped Nazi persecution.

Born in Prague in 1926, Bauer and his family were among many Jews to be forced from their homes in Europe by invading Nazi forces. In March 1939, Bauer abandoned his home alongside his family and fled to Poland, then Romania, and eventually settled in the British Mandate of Palestine.

It was while living under the Mandate, in Haifa, that the young Bauer reportedly discovered his love of history – a love that would lead him to study at Cardiff University in Wales on a scholarship.

Bauer later returned to Israel to fight in the 1948 war, remaining in Israel to take up his doctoral studies. It was during this time, while living on Kibbutz Shoval, that he met his wife.

Studying the Holocaust

Despite surviving Nazi-occupied Europe, and his passion for history, Bauer didn’t begin studying the Holocaust for much of his career. Bauer had told the USC Shoah Foundation that the subject scared him so he had avoided researching it until he spoke with Zionist leader and poet Abba Kovner.

“The Holocaust is unprecedented,” Bauer would say, according to the IHRA. “But it is not unique. If it were unique, we could forget about it, because it could happen only once. But it could happen again. We are here because we want to avoid that.”

By the end of his life, Bauer gained fluency in Czech, Slovak, German, English, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, and Polish, and published well over 40 books.

His expansive contribution led to him being accredited numerous awards and distinctions, including the Israel Prize for “History of the Jewish People” in 1998, the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award from the city of Jerusalem in 2008, and the 2016 EMET Prize in the Humanities.

Mourning Bauer 

“At 98 years of age, we were fortunate to spend many years with Yehuda. It was still not enough. We will miss his mentorship, sense of humor, and friendship, and Yehuda Bauer’s memory will always be a blessing,” the foundation wrote in their tribute.

“Bauer devoted his life to teaching us all the importance of protecting the facts. He did not shy away from uncomfortable truths or from encouraging member countries to face up to difficult pasts. He liked to remind us all that no one came out of the Holocaust clean. But he also believed in keeping governments around the table, in dialogue and in working together – despite differences– to make the world that little bit better,” said IHRA secretary-general Dr. Kathrin Meyer.

Yehuda Bauer’s contribution to the memory of the Holocaust will live on forever. He spoke and wrote with absolute moral clarity and a total dedication to the facts.“Thou shall not be a perpetrator, thou shall not be a victim, and thou shall never, but never, be a bystander.” https://t.co/J6TUtyINBu

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) October 19, 2024

“His strong moral compass guided this organization from its inception. We will honor him by continuing to live out the many lessons he taught us. He was a giant in the field but to us he was a friend and a mentor whose loss we are grieving deeply,” she said.

The academic was also mourned by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who wrote, “Yehuda Bauer’s contribution to the memory of the Holocaust will live on forever. He spoke and wrote with absolute moral clarity and a total dedication to the facts.”