Israel’s National Library is asking the public to help collect memorial stickers, eulogies and other documentation of those whose lives were lost, as part of its ongoing project documenting October 7 and its aftermath.
Across Israel, at train and bus stations, on walls, bus stops and car bumpers, stickers appear, bearing the faces of those lost on October 7 and during the war.
These spontaneous memorials are usually created by families, friends and communities and offer a way to remember and honor the fallen as part of Israeli life.
Immediately after the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack, the library developed and managed Bearing Witness, an international effort to collect, preserve, and provide access to an array of documentary materials related to the Hamas massacre that killed 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage, and the various aspects of the subsequent war period in Israel and abroad.
Ahead of the upcoming second anniversary of October 7, the library, in cooperation with the Ministry of Heritage, invites the public to contribute both physical and digital items: commemorative stickers, eulogies, writings, books, and other materials documenting the lives and memories of those who were lost, creating a resource for future generations.
The library is also coordinating and aggregating the collection efforts of individuals, civic initiatives and other institutions to preserve and make their documentation efforts accessible to the public.
Memorial stickers stuck to a field shelter wall in 2024 at the Nova Festival site (Credit: Joshua Hamerman)
The public can deposit items digitally or physically, by bringing them or sending them to the National Library of Israel, 1 Eliezer Kaplan Street, Jerusalem, 9195015.
Submissions will be preserved under optimal conditions, integrated into the Bearing Witness archive, and made accessible to the public, displayed on a dedicated webpage on the National Library of Israel website.
