Yad Vashem receives Holocaust era Archive from Luxembourg

Yad Vashem has received an archival collection from Luxembourg, detailing the Holocaust’s affect on that country’s Jewish population. The microfilms were presented yesterday evening by Prof. Paul Dostert, Director of the Center for Documentation on World War II, in Luxembourg, to Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem.

The collection contains some 31,000 pages of documentation. It includes files that document the difficult daily life under the German occupation of Luxembourg, including various confiscations and restrictions, as well as lists and orders regarding deportations to ghettos and extermination camps. Looted Jewish property, emigration to the United States, declaration of Jewish assets, life in the Funfrunnen home for elderly people, and information on some 60 mixed marriage couples who were able to rescue their Jewish spouses, are among the topics covered in the documents.

“We are very pleased to receive this valuable collection,” said Dr. Haim Gertner, Director of the Yad Vashem Archives. “More than half of the Jewish population of Luxembourg was killed in the Holocaust; and all suffered persecution. This collection, which survived the Holocaust intact, is an important window into what this community experienced during the Holocaust.”

The collection will be accessible to researchers and the public at Yad Vashem’s Archives. The Archives currently holds some 125 million pages of documentation.