Looking for specific information on “The Stories Behind the Names” and can’t find it? Stuck with a technical problem? Below are specific directions on how to use this site.

How to Use the Database:

About The Stories Behind the Names
Why are there so few Pages of Testimony on this site?
How do I choose a story and navigate it?
How do I go from one story to another?
How do I get to the sources that appear as Related Links?
How can I create a personal journey?

About The Stories Behind the Names
The Stories Behind the Names uses Pages of Testimony to teach about some of the people who were murdered in the Holocaust. The staff at the International School for Holocaust Studies used Yad Vashem’s vast educational databases to analyze and expand on the biographical details that appear on certain Pages of Testimony. They transformed the seemingly dry facts on the Pages of Testimony into Journeys of Discovery with immense educational value.
The Stories Behind the Names project models how other Pages of Testimony can be studied using Yad Vashem’s online databases.


Why are there so few Pages of Testimony on this site?
Some 2.2 million Pages of Testimony and some 3 million names of Holocaust victims can be found today in the database of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem. Obviously it was not within our capacity to include even a small percentage of these on this site. The staff at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies chose a small number of Pages of Testimony that explore central aspects of the Final Solution, and turned them into Journeys of Discovery.
The Pages of Testimony that were selected for The Stories Behind the Names project feature a variety of countries where Jews lived before the Holocaust and were murdered during the Holocaust. For example, you will find information on this site about Jews from Poland, Hungary, Romania, Libya, Greece, Germany and other countries. The selected Pages of Testimony feature male and female victims of the Holocaust, from all age groups. They show the wide range of ways that Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, by telling the stories of Jews who were murdered by Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), killed in death camps, died of hunger or disease in the ghettos, and were killed in other ways.
The Journeys of Discovery that are a part of The Stories Behind the Names project are certainly not comprehensive. They should offer a meaningful, if impartial, educational experience.


How do I choose a story and navigate it?
As a first step, we recommend that you click on Guided Journey, which appears at the top of every page. The Guided Journey will lead you through a number of different Pages of Testimony.
Once you have begun your Journey, you will see a Page of Testimony on the left hand side of the screen. Certain sections on the Page are highlighted in a darker color. By clicking on the highlighted sections, you will find explanations, historical analysis, and links that will lead you to other sources of information.
Alternately, you may click on Choose Journey, which also appears at the top of every page. Choose Journey allows you to view all the Journeys of Discovery, and select one that particularly interests you.


How do I go from one story to another?
At any stage you can choose to explore a different Page of Testimony by clicking on Guided Journey, which appears at the top of every page. Alternately, you can click on Choose Journey, which also appears at the top of every page, and then select from a list of all the Journeys.


How do I get to the sources that appear as Related Links?
Almost all of the sources that appear as Related Links on the Journeys of Discovery are available through the Holocaust Resource Center on Yad Vashem’s website.
You can access these sources through Yad Vashem’s online Holocaust Resource Center by searching thematically through the “Gates of knowledge” that appear on the homepage of the Holocaust Resource Center, or searching by keyword or media type.
If, for example, you are interested in finding out more about Treblinka, select the keyword Treblinka, and click search. You will receive many different sources (lexicon entries, pictures, extracts from testimonies or research papers etc.), all related to Treblinka).

How can I create a personal journey?
You can search the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names in order to find a Page of Testimony that interests you (you can search according to first name, family name, place of birth, etc.)

After you have chosen a Page of Testimony that you wish to study, you may use the Holocaust Resource Center on Yad Vashem’s website to find relevant sources. If, for example, the victim whose Page of Testimony you are studying was from Warsaw, you may be interested in learning more about Warsaw. If you search the Holocaust Resource Center for information about Warsaw, you will find lexicon entries, pictures, extracts from testimonies, research papers and more, all related to Warsaw.

On the homepage of Yad Vashem’s website, you can also conduct a search for other types of sources: virtual exhibitions, collections from the Museum, etc. If, for example, you are still interested in Warsaw, Yad Vashem’s homepage can direct you to artifacts found in Warsaw after the war, a photographic exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto, and so on.