Arad was born in Poland in 1926 and was part of Zionist youth movements, while he studied at Jewish schools. During World War II, Arad worked in an ammunition depot, where he smuggled weapons and helped establish the Warsaw Ghetto's underground.
He later escaped into the forest and joined the Soviet partisans. He fought alongside the resistance's guerrilla fighters until the end of the war and was awarded a first-degree partisan badge.
“When I was in the ghetto, and when I was fighting with the partisans, I had just one dream – to reach the land of Israel when the war would end,” Arad said in The International March of the Living's ‘Salute to Israel’s 73rd Birthday’ online celebration last month.
His dream came true; on December 14, 1945, Arad, together with 251 other immigrants, departed from Genoa, Italy, on the “Hannah Senesh.” The small ship landed on the beaches of Nahariya on December 25.
Arad joined the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah in pre-state Israel, and became a member of the Harel Brigade, which fought in Jerusalem during Israel’s War of Independence. Arad remained in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), becoming battalion commander, and eventually became chief educational officer in the IDF, rising to the rank of brigadier-general.
After completing his army service, Arad was appointed chairman of the directorate of Yad Vashem and served with distinction in that position for 21 years. A scholar of the Holocaust, he has written numerous academic articles and books on the subject.
"We know it is the nature of the world that a day comes and a person leaves us, but this fact does not ease the sadness when a hero like Yitzhak Arad leaves us. Arad belongs to a disappearing generation, a generation of survivors, partisans, IDF fighters, memorial fighters and any farewell to a Holocaust survivor is a reminder that now the work of remembrance is even more so on our shoulders," Ronen Plot, acting chairman of Yad Vashem praised Arad's bravery and strength.
Arad epitomized a generation of Holocaust survivors who made their way to the land of Israel, helped build the state, and in the process, built themselves.
"A noble man died, a partisan Jew by nature, honest and upright from the Warsaw ghetto to the chairman of Yad Vashem for 21 years. In this framework he worked hard to commemorate the Holocaust..." Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council expressed his condolences over Arad's death.
As a historian part of Arad's work to commemorate the Holocaust, he lectured on Jewish history at Tel Aviv University and was a visiting professor at Yeshiva University in New York during his academic career. He authored several books including the award winning "History of the Holocaust: The Soviet Union and the Annexed Territories" and "Holocaust in the Soviet Union." His last book, "It Happened on Our Planet: Morality and Existential Dilemmas Among Jews in the Reality of the Holocaust," was published just a year ago.
"[Arad] embodied many aspects of the Jewish people's life: life that began in Poland, during the Holocaust he joined the partisans, then immigrated to Israel, fought in the War of Independence, served in the IDF, retired and then served as chairman of Yad Vashem. A person I learned a lot from and together we embroidered a lot of dreams. " Avner Shalev, former chairman of Yad Vashem recalled.
Arad is survived by three children, eleven grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren, all of whom live in Israel.
His funeral took place on Friday.
“I, who witnessed the Holocaust, and saw how helpless we were – the most important thing was to establish a Jewish state that would be independent,” Arad told the ‘Salute to Israel’s 73rd Birthday’ online forum. “We are one people with one history and should strive for one future.”
Arad certainly spent his life fighting for the future of the Jewish state.