Holocaust film library opened in Jerusalem

With help from Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on Tuesday opened a Holocaust film library. At the center, funded in part by Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation, visitors can watch feature films, documentaries and videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors, said Avner Shalev, Yad Vashem's director.

The film center is the latest edition to Yad Vashem's new US$56 million (Ђ46.4 million) museum. Leaders from 40 countries attended the March opening of the Holocaust History Museum, the AP reports. Yad Vashem's partnership with Spielberg gives the museum access to the 50,000 testimonies of Holocaust survivors collected by the Righteous Persons Foundation, Shalev said. In addition, Yad Vashem has received the rights to broadcast films - such as Spielberg's Schindler's List - at the new center.

Visitors will be able to view the material at the center's 50 computers, Shalev said. A.M.