(November 22, 2004 – Jerusalem)


Yad Vashem today uploaded its historic Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names to the Internet at a news conference in Jerusalem. Available from anywhere in the world at www.yadvashem.org, the Names’ Database, an international undertaking led by Yad Vashem is an attempt to reconstruct the names and life stories of all the Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The Database currently contains some 3 million names of Shoah victims.

While launching the Database, Yad Vashem also opened an International 11th Hour Campaign aimed at garnering as many more names of victims as possible.

“Unable to express the complete life story of each victim – of each world that was extinguished – Yad Vashem sought to convey its loss through gathering for eternity the one symbol of identity the victims left behind: Their Names,” said Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev.

“We are reaching a crucial historical hour. This is a race against time— we must record as many names as possible before the generation that best remembers them is no longer with us. We call on families around the globe to help honor the memories of their ancestors by recording their names,” said Shalev.

“The availability of the Database to everyone everywhere through the internet is critical to the effort to collect more names,” Shalev added.

The sophisticated technology allows users worldwide to access a treasure trove of millions of personal and historical documents archived in 14 languages using cutting-edge web search systems from the convenience of any computer. Through interactive features, users can perform comprehensive searches, submit information, and take part in educational programs.

Using the latest technology and a team of experts in geography, linguistics, and data systems, Yad Vashem will continue to offer the most comprehensive accounting of the lives and deaths of millions of Holocaust victims, while seeking to collect those names that are still missing.

The database offers dozens of variations for each name entry that account for spelling, languages, nicknames, synonyms and more. Entries may also be searched by name of submitter, birth city, place of last known residence and death camp.

Since 1955 Yad Vashem has been actively collecting “Pages of Testimony” commemorating the names and biographic details of Jews who perished during the Holocaust. The martyred dead are remembered not as anonymous numbers, but as individual human beings.

These Pages of Testimony are filled out by family members, friends or neighbors, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, and serve as symbolic "tombstones" or identity cards for their loved ones.

As much information as is known is recorded, including the name of the victim, his or her date and place of birth, the place of residence before the war, the profession, the parents' and spouses' names, and where and when they perished during the Holocaust.

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel offered a special message for the Database launch. “These pages are very important because they are very meaningful. What do we believe in? We believe in names… Every name has a story. And all these stories become history.”

Wiesel added, “Today will be a special day… It is important because it creates a link not only with the dead but also with the living… It can only bring a heightened awareness and a deepened sense of remembrance.”

Former President of the European Parliament, former Minister in French government, and current President of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, France, Holocaust survivor Simone Veil in a special taped message, explained the importance of the Database. “Today, November 22, for the first time, this database is accessible to everybody and this is really wonderful, marvelous, since people will certainly be able to find relatives who have disappeared, whom they have not heard any more about; and also, mostly, the memory of these millions of assassinated Jews, will be thus immortalized.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged Jews around the world to join the effort to document the names of victims. “It is our duty to ensure that our sisters and brothers who were murdered in the Holocaust will forever be remembered – their names, their photographs, their life stories. We should use this technology in the service of memory to plant their images in our own hearts, and in the hearts of our children and grandchildren. This is the little we can do for them.”

The database also includes a unique feature – The Stories Behind the Names – which enables users to embark on personalized learning sessions. Through pictures and information from actual Pages of Testimony, visitors can discover the people and the communities the Nazis destroyed. The Stories Behind the Names can be incorporated into a variety of informal and formal educational frameworks.

In this vast endeavor, Yad Vashem was joined by strategic technological partners: Strauss Strategy, IBM, Netvision and IDEA. Present at the press conference on Monday was Serge Klarsfeld, a pioneer in the effort to document names of Holocaust victims. His groundbreaking lists have been incorporated into the Database. In addition to Avner Shalev, conference participants were Yossie Hollander, a son of Holocaust survivors, successful hi-tech entrepreneur and supporter of the project, Dr. Yaacov Lozowick, Director of the Archives Division, Alexander Avraham, Director of the Hall of Names and Michael Lieber, Chief Information Officer at Yad Vashem. The press conference was Webcast at www.yadvashem.org

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