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Dear
David,
I do
remember that you once lived and every day I try to be the
person you would have liked me to be.
You
would have probably made a better job of it than me but I
have a good wife and a very special son and I love them as
much as I am sure they love me.
I did
not become famous or become a renowned academic or
musician but many of us did and we have given our best to
our world but more than that we have become good and
decent human beings.
You
would be proud of our Israel and you would have enjoyed
the warm sun on your body and the food that we grow in our
own land and the tall straight trees that are testimony to
our endurance.
I wish I
could have shown you a better life and I hope that you
would at least have liked me and my friends.
I will
not forget you David, and I will make sure no one ever
will, till we meet again
Philip Morrison,
Glasgow, Scotland
(by email)
Millions of
people, from over 162 countries, have visited the Central
Database of Shoah Victims’ Names since it was launched on
the Yad Vashem website in November 2004. Thousands have
expressed their appreciation to Yad Vashem for taking this
vital step in Holocaust remembrance. Some, with personal
connections to the Shoah, have reconnected with the
past; others have discovered a part of their history they
did not know. Many have simply been overwhelmed by the
experience of “meeting the victims” and “seeing them look
back at us.” As one visitor to the site wrote:
“Today
I became a grandson. Today I became a nephew. Across time
and history, www.yadvashem.org reminds us… how an attempt at
mass murder and genocide can be undone by the collaborative
power of memory.”
Tom Teicholz,
film producer, author and journalist,
The Jewish
Journal of Greater Los Angeles
Discovery
Two-thirds
of the names in the Database were obtained from the more
than two million Pages of Testimony submitted to Yad Vashem
over the past 50 years, nearly all of which have now been
digitized. Pages of Testimony are one-page forms, submitted
to Yad Vashem by survivors, remaining family members, or
friends in commemoration of Jews who perished in the Shoah.
Hundreds of visitors to the website have discovered family
they never knew existed or family they had lost track of by
looking at the names of the submitters on the Pages of
Testimony. A case in point is the story of one man who
traveled to Germany to meet family that he discovered
through the Names Database.
Click here to see the story of Dr. Baruch Ravid
Impressions
Visitors to
the Names Database from around the world have written to Yad
Vashem and shared their experiences and reactions.
Presented here are few excerpts
from the thousands of emails we have
received:
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To:
'cynthiawroclawski@yadvashem.org.il'
Subject: Bar/Bat-Mitzvah Holocaust Memorial
Project of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre
(Canada)
Dear
Ms. Wroclawski,
My son,
a namesake of my grandfather, Michael, a Holocaust
victim, twinned for his Bar-Mitzvah with a Holocaust
child, Yitzchak Yaakov Dragun. Yitzchak Yaakov lived in
the town of Zuromin, Poland, the same town in which my
grandfather had lived and perished in a concentration
camp without ever having a Bar Mitzvah. I wondered if
perhaps this boy and/or his family had known my
grandfather and even my late father.
Using
the online Database, I found the name of the district in
which Zuromin was located and the Page of Testimony for
Yitzchak Yaakov Dragun. According to Yad Yashem, both
his parents and a sister had perished with him. A friend
in Israel looked up the family name and discovered a
surviving brother and his family. He sent them material
from the Bar-Mitzvah and they immediately phoned me.
The surviving brother, now 86 years old, while overjoyed
that his late, little brother had been commemorated, was
too overcome with emotion to speak with me. I did,
however, speak with both his daughter and his wife. Out
of five siblings, two brothers had survived the War and
settled in Israel. The Dragun family later sent a gift
to my son, Mikey, and put us in touch with others who
had lived in Zuromin. As I had hoped, some of these
survivors had known my grandfather. They sent me the
Yizkor book of Zuromin which mentions my grandfather’s
house, used as Nazi headquarters by the Germans. We
also received a family portrait of the entire Dragun
family, taken just before the outbreak of the War, and
sent to a distant cousin in South America. By this
circuitous route, we are now able to put a face to the
name of this boy, and to see him as flesh and blood,
rather than a name or a number.
In
closing, I would like you to know that my daughter,
Gabrielle, who is to be Bat-Mitzvahed next spring, has
agreed to twin her ceremony with Yitzchak Yaakov’s late
sister, who also died in the Shoah. This unique program
has bridged continents, generations and time itself,
ensuring that records and memories become the very
fabric of the here and now. The Jewish family lives on.
Sincerely Yours,
Sarah Michaela Reingewirtz (Samra) |
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To:
feedback@yadvashem.org.il
Subject: Database of Names
I am a
35 year old lawyer in Toronto and have just spent an
hour using the Database of Names. I have to admit that
my hands were shaking as I typed in the last names of my
family and their towns in Poland. It was an extremely
moving experience to see my family history located in
the database. In most cases the information is from
testimony given by friends or neighbours whom I don’t
know and dates from the mid 1950’s, so it is certainly
more current than the information I get from my 88 year
old Zayde – the only one left from that generation.
It is a
wonderful thing you have done – not only keeping the
memories alive, but allowing those of us far away to
look back into those memories that are quickly fading.
I am still shaking a bit as I write this e-mail to you.
Orie H.
Niedzviecki
Toronto,
Canada |
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To:
feedback@yadvashem.org.il
Subject: Thanks...
To whom
it may concern,
Thanks
for the initiative of putting Holocaust victims' names
in an online searchable archive.
A truly
magnificent effort.
With
best regards,
Piotr
Wisniewski
Warsaw,
Poland |
To:
feedback@yadvashem.org.il
Subject: The Central Database
Ladies and Gentleman,
Just want to take a moment to thank you for your
outstanding work on making this information available on
a web site. To my knowledge we do not have any ancestors
who were victimized in the Holocaust however, I am
delighted to be able to access so many stories of those
who were. I share them with my children and help them to
see what was done and hopefully help them to become part
of the solution to make sure that this NEVER happens
again to anyone's family. My deepest appreciation and
congratulations!
Most Sincerely,
Kim Inks
Lindon, UT
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To:
feedback
Subject: Thank You
Thank
you for compiling the database of Holocaust victims
names. I was able to confirm all that had been handed
down from one generation to another by finding relatives
listed here.
This is
an awesome project because no one should ever forget.
Thank
you again,
Lee Ann
Sontheimer Murphy |
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To:
feedback
Subject: thanks
Often,
when I think of the Holocaust, I conjure up images of
emaciated people in striped prison uniforms.
These
people are easy to put in a box. I see images of ghastly
executions, but they are of these "boxed people."
Your
site shows people before they have spent months in a
camp. It shows people who look like, well, just folks,
which is the reality of the situation. Thanks for
bringing that home.
Yvonne |
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