05 July 2004
Hundreds of Jewish Genealogists were urged to submit Pages of Testimony on Holocaust victims during a conference at Yad Vashem today. The group, participating in the 24th International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies International Conference on Jewish Genealogy attended a series of lectures followed by a tour of the new Hall of Names.
At the plenary session of the meetings on Monday, the Israel Genealogical Society called on Jewish genealogists worldwide to submit Pages of Testimony for Holocaust victims. The statement reads, in part, “The Israel Genealogical Society calls upon its members and fellow genealogists worldwide to submit as many Pages of Testimony as possible for the victims of the Shoah. The campaign to redeem the names and identities of all those whom the Nazis sought to destroy is especially urgent today. IGS urges Jewish genealogists everywhere to join in this campaign to gather and document names of Holocaust victims and to provide a testament to their lives through Pages of Testimony in the Hall of Names.” The Pages of Testimony will also be included in the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, scheduled to go on-line this fall.
A Yad Vashem representative is available - at the conference center at the Renaissance Hotel - to offer assistance to conference participants in searching Yad Vashem’s databases for the duration of the week-long conference; while the reading room of the Yad Vashem’s library, archives and the Hall of Names has tripled its hours and added staff to help genealogists in their search for family members and connections.
