A Milestone in Holocaust Commemoration

Yad Vashem has identified two-thirds of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust - 4 million names. In 2004, Yad Vashem launched the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names onto its website, with 3 million names. At the same time, a new 11th hour project to recover unknown names was initiated. Names are recovered via Pages of Testimony, filled out in memory of the victims by people who remember them, and by combing archival lists and documentation for names. Of the 4 million names currently known, some 2.2 million come from Pages of Testimony and the remainder from various archival sources and postwar commemoration projects. While in Western Europe in particular there were often lists kept of the Jews and deportation, making identification easier, in countries of Eastern Europe and the areas of the former Soviet Union, much information was still lacking.   During the last five years, Yad Vashem concentrated its efforts in names recovery in areas where most of the names were unknown, including Eastern Europe, the FSU and Greece and great progress has been made. The entire Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names is available in English, Hebrew and Russian.   For assistance in filling out Pages of Testimony in Israel or becoming more involved in Yad Vashem’s Names Outreach program write names.outreach@yadvashem.org.il

Recent Events

A host of educational and commemorative events for International Holocaust Remembrance day will take place during the week of January 23-27.

Join Yad Vashem and our Facebook friends for a unique virtual event the week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  You are invited to a special Facebook  event - the “Yad Vashem I Remember Wall” where you can personally remember one of the six million  by being matched with a name from the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names.  The event will be open through January 30th.

The UN General Asssemby in NY will hold its memorial ceremony on Thursday January 27, on the theme of “Women in the Holocaust.”  After the ceremony, all attendees will receive an educational DVD on the topic, produced in conjunction with Yad Vashem’s International School of Holocaust Studies.

A special concert took place in Berlin’s Rykestreet Synagogue on January 24, 2011 in the presence of Germany’s President Christian Wulff and Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.  The concert was organized by the German Society for Yad Vashem, chaired by Hildegard Muller.

At the official ceremony at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on January 27, Israel’s Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar will address diplomats who will then attend a seminar run by Yad Vashem’s International School.

A memorial ceremony will take place at the Headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress and the Israel Ministry of Public Affairs and the Diaspora.  Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, will open Yad Vashem’s “Architecture of Murder” exhibition which displays the plans of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp complex, as well as aerial photos of the complex, photographs of the camp’s construction and quotes from its SS staff and Jewish inmates.

Traveling Exhibitions Worldwide
The photographic exhibition "BESA – A Code of Honor:  Albanian Muslims who Rescued Jews in the Holocaust" opened on January 17 in the British House of Commons and the "No Child's Play" exhibition will open in German at Landhaus Innsbruck, Austria on January 27 in the presence of the Governor of Tirol Gunther Platter.

New YouTube Channel in Farsi Launched

In keeping with its commitment to raise Holocaust awareness worldwide, on Sunday January 23, Yad Vashem launched a YouTube channel in Farsi and substantially expanded its Farsi website. The YouTube channel contains survivor testimonies, archival footage, and mini-lectures by Holocaust historians. The comprehensive updated website includes frequently asked questions about the Holocaust, online exhibitions, stories of Righteous Among the Nations, a multimedia presentation of the Auschwitz Album and more. The Farsi Channel and website join Yad Vashem’s English, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish and Arabic language online presence ensuring that reliable information and knowledge is offered to as broad a global audience as possible.

A Pedigreed Jew
Between There and Here
Kovno and Israel
Safira Rapoport
   $16.00(airmail included)

 Nechama Baruchson, a native of Kovno, was a company commander of the underground movement ABZ (Covenant of Zion) in the Kovno Ghetto. After the loss of her mother and the destruction of the ghetto, Nechama was taken to Stutthof Concentration Camp and eventually on a death march. Owing to her resourcefulness and courage, she managed to escape, joined the Bericha Organization and ultimately immigrated to Israel. Fifty years after the Shoah, her daughter Safira returned to the remains of Kovno to attempt to discover the fate of her grandmother and journey to the places mentioned in her mother’s memoir.

Remember
My Stories of Survival and Beyond
Marcel Tuchman
In association with the Holocaust Survivors’ Memoirs Project
$16.00 (airmail included)

In his riveting memoir, Marcel Tuchman recounts dramatic tales of his often brutal, yet always compelling personal experiences as a youth in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and its aftermath.  The story carries us from the Przemysl ghetto and slave labor to Auschwitz to his experiences attending university in post-war Germany, filled with characters both good and evil, all of whom played a role in his survival. “A tale of heroic self-sacrifice and indomitable spirit for survival… Finally, there is a renewal of life that followed liberation….”  Abraham L. Gitlow, Professor and Dean Eritus, NYU