International Jewish Genealogy Conference 2015

10 July 2015

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, delivers the keynote address at the IAJGS Conference

Yad Vashem's booth at the IAJGS Conference

Omri Weiss of the Gathering the Fragments Campaign at Yad Vashem assists a conference attendee to conduct research

Zvi Bernhardt, Deputy Director of Yad Vashem's Hall of Names, lectures at the conference

Archives Director Dr. Haim Gertner helps researchers access Yad Vashem's databases and resources

Debbie Berman of the Names Recovery Project at Yad Vashem helps to fill out nine Pages of Testimony submitted by a conference attendee

Yad Vashem played an active partnering role in the 35th annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (held once every decade in Israel), which took place on 6-10 July at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem. The keynote address at the opening plenary session was delivered by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council. Explaining how the suffix to Jewish names taken from biblical sources changed when Jews wandered from place to place in the diaspora (Jacob to Jacobson), Lau spoke passionately about the importance of roots to memory: "The past goes with us," he emphasized. "Whoever breaks with his past loses his identity."

The rich conference program, attended by some 800 researchers and Jewish genealogy enthusiasts from around the world, included nine presentations by Yad Vashem speakers, guided assistance and access to Yad Vashem's databases at the commence venue and an information booth at the exhibition. An optional day at Yad Vashem offered some 45 participants a special menu of activities, including Holocaust research in the Library Reading Room, tours of the Museum Complex, exhibits, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Archives and lectures on a variety of Shoah-related topics.

More about the conference, see the upcoming edition of Yad Vashem Jerusalem Magazine.