Holocaust Resources

Over the last 20 to 30 years resources have greatly improved for providing documents, records and photos of events surrounding the Holocaust. Most important to any researcher would be the families and individuals who were directly affected by the Holocaust during the 1930s and 1940s. Not just those sent to concentration camps, but included are those known as refugees who managed to escape and the resistance fighters who fought back against the terror brought on by the Nazi forces. The following are just three of the several online resources available for those searching for information about ancestors who may have been affected by the Holocaust.

The Yad Vashem site has a Hall of Names with dates and location. It offers free use to search the digital collection with some 4.5 million names many with biographies of those individuals who perished. Also online is a great photo archive to view images prior to the holocaust, during and after. It covers Jews throughout Europe, the Germans, the Americans, the Italians, and others during the war, along with the published propaganda bulletins and those brave individuals who helped the refugees.

In Washington, D. C. is the U. S. Holocaust Museum with its online collections. Of special interest are the many personal stories of those who survived the holocaust. Dedicated in 1993 the museum has served to instruct, remember and hopefully prevent any future genocide. Artifacts and reminders of the life the victims of the holocaust were forced to live is a big portion of the site. It has photo archives including many donated family images. An important item is a holocaust survivor and victims database with millions of records, photos, records gathered from numerous locations. You can search by names or locations.

Victims of the Shoah in France are remembered in the Memorial Shoah in Paris, France as well as its online site with featured collections. A database has a list of names on the Wall of Names, the register of Jews killed in France other than in deportation, the list of persons executed or who died in the French internment camps, the list of Jewish resistance fighters who belonged to the network of the Jewish Combat Organization and the names of the Righteous of France.

Even if you believe you have no ancestors who were lived the holocaust the various web sites relating to that period of history are quite informative and well worth reviewing.

Photo: Jewish refugee children who were smuggled out of occupied France to Lisbon, Portugal in 1941.

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