The Central Database of Shoah Victims' Name was created and uploaded to the Internet with the vision and generous support of the following individuals and organizations. Yad Vashem would like to express its profound appreciation to them.
The Victim List Project of the Swiss Banks Settlement
Under the direction of Judge Edward R. Korman of the United States District Court, the Victim List Project of the Swiss Banks Settlement has been encouraging and helping organize the compilation and greater accessibility worldwide of the names of individuals whom the $1.25 billion Swiss Banks Settlement is intended to benefit – Jewish, Romani, Jehovah’s Witness, homosexual, and physically or mentally disabled or handicapped victims of Nazi persecution, those who were murdered and those who survived – for research and remembrance. In consultation with experts in the collection or digitization of the names of Victims or Targets of Nazi persecution, Dr. Wesley A. Fisher, Executive Director of the Victim List Project, has been recommending specific activities for funding to Special Master Judah Gribetz and Deputy Special Master Shari C. Reig, and consequently to Judge Korman. At the Court’s request, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (“Claims Conference”) has been providing technical and administrative support.
From the $14.5 million allocated to the Victim List Project out of the Settlement Fund, the Court has granted approximately $10.5 million to Yad Vashem.
The Court’s support has made possible the following activities:
- The opening on the internet of the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names
- Maintenance and development of the Central Database
- Service to the public using the Central Database
- Ongoing identification and scanning of essentially all historical-archival lists of names available. Mass data entry of names from historical documentation
- The identification, copying, and acquisition of certain named-based documentation of survivors, such as those who were in the Soviet evacuation
- The continued process of integration of the names of individuals with further information about the persons concerned and with other relevant information
The Victim List Project was approved in November 2000 as part of the Plan of Allocation and Distribution of Settlement Proceeds. The $1.25 billion Swiss Banks Settlement Fund arises from claims against Swiss banks and other Swiss entities based upon their activities during the Holocaust era. More information can be found at www.swissbankclaims.com.
Nadav Fund
In partnership with Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal
The Nadav Fund was founded in 2003 by Leonid Nevzlin, Vladimir Dubov and Mikhail Brudno in the framework of Keren Hayesod – the United Israel Appeal, with the aim of promoting projects which intensify the ties between the State of Israel and the Jewish people in the Diaspora, strengthen Jewish identity and deepen Jewish education of the young generation of the Jewish people, as well as projects involving academic research in the field of Russian and Eastern European Jewry.
Among the Fund's central projects included the development of Beit Hatefutsoth as a World Centre for Jewish Peoplehood, the Nevzlin Centre at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for the research of Russian and Eastern European Jewry, research centers on Russian and Eastern European Jewry in Moscow, Vilnius and Kiev, the Nevzlin program for Jewish civilization at Tel Aviv University, and support for the Birthright (Taglit) and Masa projects.
"Transferring Data into Information, into Knowledge, into Wisdom"
Paul Baan - Personal Word
In this personal word we would like to explain a couple of personal feelings regarding our donation to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.
Both my brother and myself grew up in the global ICT business. In 1978 we founded the Baan Company (https://www.baan.com) and at the moment we are the major shareholders of the Vanenburg Group (https://www.vanenburg.com).
Due to the strong position of Israel in the ICT-sector we decided to enlarge our investment portfolio in Israel, and have invested in several hi-tech companies.
But our relationship with Israel is based on much more than only business reasons. With our Christian background we are very much interested in the history of the Bible and that gives us in many respects a strong solidarity with the culture and people in Israel.
Except business investments in Israel we are very pleased that we are able to contribute with our NOABER-foundation (https://www.noaber.com) to a variety of projects in the charity field as well. NOABER is an old Dutch word that means "Neighbour". The main objective of the NOABER foundation is to Improve the Community of Tomorrow's World (ICT) with the help of Information and Communication Technology. We use the slogan "ICT for ICT".
We feel very honoured to have had the opportunity to become a partner in the project for the computerization of the archive system of Yad Vashem. Not only the scope of the project fits very well in the objectives of the NOABER foundation, but there is a much deeper motivation as well. The fact that due to the computerization of the archive system we are now able to "broadcast" via the internet all the history of the holocaust in a global and intensive way is in our opinion a huge break-through.
We were deeply impressed when we saw for the first time the old archive system with all the detailed documents and data representing the painful suffering of so many innocent Jewish individuals. At that moment we strongly felt that we had to do our utmost to give as many as possible people access to this information. Information and Communication Technology is a very good way to help transfer legacy data into information and knowledge that's accessable for the global community in order to learn from it. With this project we feel that we are promoting the resurrection of the victims from the holocaust, as the old archive system has become already "alive".
At the moment over two million visitors are visiting Yad Vashem on a yearly basis but from now we are offering the "cyber-visitor" the possibility to visit Yad Vashem. We are positive that this will increase the number of visitors to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum tremendously. Above all we wish that God will give mankind the wisdom to avoid such terrible actions in the future.
Yours sincerely
Paul Baan
