|
||||||
|
||||||
A few years ago, I had the
responsibility of maintaining the
National Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors until it became
part of the permanent exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington, DC. One day I received a telephone call from an
excited staff member of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust
Survivors. The organization had received a call from a woman who
had just discovered, after more than forty years, that her father
had survived the Holocaust. "Did the National Registry have any
information about him?" The answer was no; he had not registered
with them. Out of curiosity, I continued the search for her
father's name by referring to my collection of Holocaust research
sources. There was his name, in the "List of Survivors--Volume II"
published by the Jewish Agency in 1945. I realized that this woman
could have found her father years ago. Instead, she was denied his
love and companionship for forty years because she did not know
that resources were available to determine the fate of Holocaust
victims and to help locate Holocaust survivors. Since that
incident, my knowledge of resources about individuals caught up in
the Holocaust has grown considerably. I have been fortunate to be
able to help a number of survivors or their descendants locate
information concerning their families. It was widely believed that the
Germans and their collaborators
had destroyed all the materials associated with the Holocaust in an
effort to hide their crimes. In fact, a wealth of information has
survived, and more is uncovered every year. Some records became
available shortly after World War II. These have been followed by
a steady trickle of additional information throughout the years.
But the recent collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe
has made available a huge number of records. These records had been
seized by the Soviet Union and were inaccessible until the collapse
of communism. Other formerly communist countries, long reluctant to
open their archives, perhaps out of fear that complicity of their
countrymen with the Nazi effort would be shown, are now relenting
and making their material available. For this reason, I have decided
to write this book--to share my
knowledge of what information is available to do Holocaust
research. I hope it will allow survivors, their descendants and
their collateral relatives to document individuals who were caught
up in the maelstrom that is considered by many to be the greatest
tragedy in the history of Western civilization.
New documentation of the
Holocaust is being discovered on a
regular basis. Consequently, there is every indication that this is
merely the first edition of this book. Present plans are to update
this book periodically as additional resources become available.
When conducting your research, always check with the resource sites
to determine if they have acquired new information. Holocaust
resource sites also share records as they acquire them. If you find
that records described in this book are not available locally, ask
the facility if it is possible to get a copy of the information
either on loan or as a permanent addition to their collection. I
encourage readers to write to me in care of Avotaynu, P.O. Box 900,
Teaneck, NJ 07666, with information to be added to future editions
of this book.
Preparation of this book required
the assistance of many people
at the facilities mentioned. Their cooperation was generous and
made without reservation. Thanks to the following: Alexander Abraham, Robert Rozett
and Yaakov Lozowik at Yad
Vashem; at the U.S. Holocaust Research Institute: Valdin Altskan,
Sarah Ogilvy and William Connelly; Zachary Baker and Fruma Mohrer
of YIVO Institute for Jewish Research; Frank Mecklenberg and Julia
Bock of Leo Baeck Institute; Peggy Pearlstein of the U.S. Library
of Congress; Paul H. Hamburg, at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles; William Shulman of the Association of Jewish Holocaust
Organizations; Barbara Hersche of HIAS; Janice Rosen of the
Canadian Jewish Congress. Special friends made special
contributions. Yale Reisner
provided the information about the Jewish Historical Institute of
Poland. He is working at the Institute by virtue of a special grant
from the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. Sophie Caplan, president of
the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society provided the information
about resources for locating survivors in Australia. The numerous friends I have made
in the Jewish genealogical
community who contributed information and/or advice include Carol
Clapsaddle, Jeffrey Cymbler, Peter Lande, Barbara Lightbody, Eileen
Polakoff, Sallyann Amdur Sack and Miriam Weiner. Irene Saunders
Goldstein, who has edited most of the books published by Avotaynu,
Inc., contributed the skills required to convert my ramblings into
coherent English. But most of all, gratitude goes
to my wife Ruth, who insisted
that I block out time from my busy schedule, one day of every work
week, until this project was completed.
Previous Page | Next Page | Table of
Contents
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
