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A BRIEF BACKGROUND OF
THE
ON-LINE DATABASE
A Symbolic Burial Place
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The Holocaust
Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority established 1953 to preserve
the memory of the millions who died in the Holocaust.
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Process of
collecting Pages of Testimony began in 1954; 2 million pages
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Yad Vashem has
collected 40,000 different Jewish last names, with 370,000 variants.
Yad Vashem On-line Resources
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One of the greatest
technological revolutions in Holocaust Remembrance
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One-of-a kind
interactive platform for commemoration and education.
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Goal is to
memorialize the names and life stories of victims of the Holocaust. Not
organized to unite families.
Releasing the Database
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Key goal is to
collect additional names, photos, life details.
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Work was continued
for 20 years to overcome massive linguistic and geographic issues.
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The software is
extremely sophisticated and powerful.
Funding for the Database: $22 Million
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Private donors, Yad
Vashem funding, the Volcker Commission on Swiss Bank Accounts and the
Claims Conference.
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The cost of
uploading the database was funded by businessman and high tech
entrepreneur Yossie Hollander, son of a survivor, and the Victim List
Project of the Swiss Bank Settlement, and the Noaber Foundation.
A Powerful, Emotional Experience
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Even if you think
you do not have relatives who died in the Shoah, you are jolted out of
the researcher’s normal complacency.
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A simple search for
surnames or villages will yield chilling realizations and a connection
to the horror otherwise unknown.
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I found my
grandmother’s mother, age 85.
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