Out of the Whirlwind: Resources for Holocaust Research
Deborah Long
About this webinar
The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Deborah Long reviews the best (as well as some of the obscure) resources and methods for determining the fate of those involved in the Holocaust, including survivors and victims. Deborah will use examples from her own research to demonstrate the documents and artifacts she discovered.
About the speaker
Key points and insights
In the webinar "Out of the Whirlwind: Resources for Holocaust Research," speaker Deborah Long, a director of the Triangle Jewish Genealogical Society and daughter of Holocaust survivors, provides a roadmap for reconstructing family trees fragmented by the Shoah. This deep dive into Holocaust resources is designed to help genealogists "take away their numbers and give them back their names" by navigating vast archival collections.
- Primary Search Requests: The first essential step is to simultaneously submit inquiries to the Arolsen Archives (formerly the International Tracing Service) in Germany and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). While many records are now free to access online, submitting formal research requests is necessary to access millions of non-indexed documents, a process that typically takes six to twelve weeks for a response.
- Vital Global Repositories: Researchers should utilize Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for its authoritative archive of over five million "Pages of Testimony," which provide eyewitness accounts of victims' lives and deaths. Additionally, JewishGen.org offers a specialized Holocaust database with more than six million records, and the International Red Cross provides a free tracing service for missing persons held between 1933 and 1957.
- Beyond Paper Records: Holocaust research includes non-traditional artifacts such as oral histories from the Steven Spielberg Shoah Foundation, which contains over 55,000 video testimonies, and digitized volumes of the USHMM’s Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Searching for localized resources, such as the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, can uncover rare photographs and identity cards.
Genealogists are encouraged to view the full webinar to see visual examples of how to interpret complex concentration camp index cards and transport lists. To access direct links to these databases and detailed search strategies, explore the additional resources included in the extensive webinar syllabus.
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Comments (20)
Wow! what an amazing speaker. You need to invite her to come back again. Thanks so much.
Incredible presentation and amazing handout! The presentation was organized in a very helpful format and packed with tons of useful information. Deborah did a wonderful job of intertwining the resources with personal stories. I plan to watch this again. Highly recommend!
Deborah Long was very knowledgeable and it was evident that she had command of the information presented. Excellent and informative webinar and cannot wait for her next one!
The personal family connections made the information even more interesting.
More great info and tips
Outstanding - A very moving presentation - it brought tears to my eyes. I now have lots of places to look for relatives I know existed but have not been able to find.
So knowledgeable about subject with much experience researching and interesting examples of what can be found.
I appreciated learning how to search from personal experience and the purpose behind it: to give life to those who are no longer with us through genealogy and to document the families of survivors. I'm new to this type of webinar, but I find them very useful for future research.