Image via https://www.jewishgen.org
We are delighted to report on two recent long-term loans from the Lewis 2013 Trust. The Trust has been generously supporting The Wiener Holocaust Library for a number of years by placing nationally and internationally important Holocaust-related materials within the Library. The Lewis Collection, as it’s known internally to us, lists around 40 items, including various rare antisemitic pamphlets, Informationsheft G.B. (Geheim!), a German invasion guide to Britain, and postcards from the Lodz Ghetto and Ravensbruck. Last summer The Trust secured a copy of the first edition of Anne Frank’s diary published in Amsterdam in 1947.
The latest addition to the Collection is an incredible two-volume set that contains nearly 120,000 names of Holocaust survivors. Pinkas Hanitzolim, Register of Jewish Survivors, was published by The Search Bureau for Missing relatives of the Jewish Agency in 1945. It is a primary resource for relatives, family historians, and researchers. Volume 1 lists Jewish survivors of various countries who were rescued from camps and ghettos in different European countries, approximately 60,000 names. Volume 2 lists Jews in Poland, approximately 58,000 names. The Jewish Institute of Poland holds the original cards catalogue for the second volume, completed by the survivors in the various Jewish Committees founded after the war in various places. These cards contained more details than what was published in the Survivors Register – for example, parents, town of origin, etc. This latter volume has been digitalised and available online via the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York.
The Search Bureau for Missing Relatives of the Jewish Agency was set up to assist in re-establishing contact between the Jewish survivors in Europe and their relatives in Palestine and in overseas countries. More information is known on the second volume. This register contains the names of 57,702 Jews who were found in Poland after its liberation. The list was prepared by the Central Committee of Polish Jewry in Warsaw and bears the date of August 15th, 1945. Of course, the list does not include all the names of the Jews who were alive on that date in Poland. For instance, under “S”, 2,546 names are missing which were registered by the Warsaw Committee but which have not yet been received in Jerusalem (the last number under “S” is 50,254) while “T” begins with the number 52,801. It should also be mentioned that some 13,000 names of Jewish soldiers serving at the time with the Polish Army were not included in the List.
These volumes were produced in order to provide a more permanent format for this potentially transformative information, lists were also published in a weekly bulletin Lakarov Ulerahok [To the Near and Far], and search requests were broadcast on Kol Yerushalayim [The Voice of Jerusalem]. Despite the suggestion of “forthcoming volumes”, no further were ever produced.
The Wiener Holocaust Library holds a digital copy of the International Tracing Service Archive, which contains over 30 million pages of Holocaust-era documents relating to the fates of over 17.5 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labour and displacement during and after the Second World War. Visit our online exhibition, Fate Unknown: The Search for the Missing After the Holocaust, which highlights the post-war efforts to help find missing people and reunite families. A travelling version of this exhibition is in production.
The Library has a large collection of books, pamphlets, documents and periodicals related to survivors. Search our Collections Catalogue for places, names, and use the keywords “Survivors” and “Lists of victims/survivors” to find more.
Please note that this item has not yet been catalogued but will be available to users shortly.
Sources:
- Information provided by Peter Harrington, London Auction House.
- Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York
- International Tracing Service Digital Archive
- Arolsen Archives
