Shalom,

With the approach of Holocaust Martyrs’ & Heroes’ Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah (April 12^th 2010, 27 Nisan 5770), I would like to update you on the the Shoah Victims’ Names Recovery Project and share recent Yad Vashem initiatives highlighting holocaust survivor commemoration efforts. Please take this opportunity to step up your activities to collect the names of Shoah victims. Visit our newly designed website to find updated promotional materials and ideas to raise awareness of the project among members of your community. 

The Voice of the Survivors: The Central Theme for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2010

The survivors of the Holocaust carried – and still bear – the weight of memory upon their shoulders. The presence of these eyewitnesses in our society, those who saw and experienced the events, provides this memory with an ethical power. The survivors are the very backbone of Shoah commemoration in the State of Israel and abroad. They were the first to document the years of terror, and continue to relate their painful memories today. Click here to read an article on the central theme.

Newly Designed Website and Promotional Material

Visit our newly formatted website including multimedia, photo galleries, archived articles and a materials toolkit. Check out our new flash banner ads created for you to post on your websites and to forward to Jewish organizations, Temples and Holocaust groups with which you are affiliated. Please note: you must contact us to receive a unique link for the banner of your choice. Click to see the ads: Banner 1, Banner 2, Banner 3.

Facts and Figures for 2009

The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names has been enlarged and now contains 3.8 million names of Holocaust victims, all of which are accessible online. The Names Database now contains some 2.2 million Pages of Testimony, more than half of the total number of names in the Names Database. Tens of thousands of Pages of Testimony were gathered through intensive activity of the Names Recovery Project in the ultra-Orthodox and Russian-speaking sectors in Israel and worldwide.

Nationwide Radio Campaign Bolsters Names Recovery

In mid-February a nationwide radio campaign was launched with Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev issuing a personal call to action to the Israeli public to commemorate the names of Holocaust victims they remember. The successful campaign helped bring the importance of names collection to the forefront of public consciousness. Thousands of calls were received during the course of the campaign, and a call center manned by volunteers ensured that Pages of Testimony were sent out as quickly as possible. Click here to view a special news report on the campaign.

New Exhibition - Virtues of Memory: Six Decades of Holocaust Survivors’ Creativity

The yoke of memory is borne by Holocaust survivors day in and day out. Over the years, they have unburdened themselves piece by piece: some by writing, some by the spoken word and some by means of the visual image, in art and in film. Each one has found a personal path to share his or her experience with immediate family, fellow Jews and others, wherever they may be. The exhibition opens up this corpus of artistic expression, enabling us, those who were not there, to touch a reality through visual aspects. Click here to learn more about the exhibit.

With warmest regards from Jerusalem,

Cynthia Wroclawski, Manager
The Shoah Victims' Names Recovery Project
Yad Vashem, POB 3477
Jerusalem, 91034 ISRAEL

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