Guide

Holocaust victims and survivors

This guide is for families of Jews murdered by the Germans and their collaborators in ghettos, death camps, concentration camps and mass shootings, and of those who survived. By the end of the war about six million Jews had been murdered. From the Warsaw Ghetto alone, where more than 400,000 people were confined, the Germans deported some 250,000–265,000 to Treblinka in 1942. Most victims of the death camps were killed on arrival and never registered, so for many of them no document bearing their name exists.

How to search

1. 01Start with what has survived in the family: letters, captioned photographs, pre-war addresses, the names of parents and siblings. The key facts are the town the family lived in before the war and the spelling of the surname in different languages (Polish, Yiddish, German, Russian) – the databases search for variants, but you need to try them.
2. 02Next, search Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. It includes Pages of Testimony filled in by survivors and relatives; if the person is not there, the family can submit one. In parallel, check the names database of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), which brings together ghetto and camp lists, death lists and survivor registrations.
3. 03The Arolsen Archives can be searched by name, date and place of birth across camp, ghetto and prison documents and post-war displaced persons (DP) files – especially useful when looking for survivors. If someone was sent to Auschwitz and registered as a prisoner, check the Auschwitz Museum's database and write to its Archival Analysis and Information Section.
4. 04Survivors who returned to Poland after the war could register with the Central Committee of Polish Jews; registration ran until 1948, and its records are held by the Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH). The ŻIH Genealogy Department takes enquiries by email and helps families reconstruct their history.
5. 05Pre-war Jewish birth, marriage and death records give the names and dates that further searches depend on. They are indexed by JRI-Poland (free search, with extra tools for members); the registers themselves are held by the Polish State Archives or by civil registry offices.
6. 06Be prepared for the fact that for many victims of Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka or Chełmno no document with their name survives. Then the history of the town and of the ghetto the family was sent to tells the most – hence the list of our articles below.

Where to search

• Online searchCentral Database of Shoah Victims' Names (Yad Vashem) ↗A name search of Shoah victims across Yad Vashem's collections, including Pages of Testimony submitted by survivors and families. If the person is missing, relatives can fill in a new Page of Testimony.collections.yadvashem.org/en/names
• Online searchArolsen Archives ↗Over 40 million documents on victims and survivors of Nazi persecution, including Jews held in camps, ghettos and Gestapo prisons and people displaced after the war. Relatives can send a free enquiry through a form.collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search
• Online searchHolocaust Survivors and Victims Database (USHMM) ↗Name lists from ghettos and camps, death lists, registration forms and the survivors' registry, from the museum's holdings and other institutions. The museum also offers free research for survivors and victims' families.ushmm.org/remember/resources-holocaust-survivors-victims/database-of-holocaust-survivor-and-victim-names/search-names
• Archive / collectionGenealogy Department, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH) ↗Helps people trace Jewish ancestors and relatives; the ŻIH archive holds records of the Central Committee of Polish Jews, including the survivor registration kept until 1948. Enquiries: familyheritage@jhi.pl.jhi.pl/genealogia
• Online searchJRI-Poland (Jewish Records Indexing – Poland) ↗An index of Jewish vital and other records from Poland, covering over 1,900 towns. Anyone can search after creating a free account; members get additional tools.jri-poland.org
• Online searchAuschwitz Museum – victims database and Archival Analysis and Information Section ↗The database (ofiary.auschwitz.org) gives data from over 445,000 records of prisoners and deportees, based on the roughly 10% of SS documentation that survives. More than 900,000 people murdered on arrival were never registered. Enquiries: online form or archiwum@auschwitz.org.auschwitz.org/historia/informacja-o-ofiarach/sekcja-analiz-i-informacji-archiwalnej

We checked the addresses and holdings on these institutions' own websites. Their rules can change, so check their current pages before sending a request.

Read in the chronicle

• 1942The Wannsee ConferenceOn 20 January 1942 Heydrich gathered fifteen SS, Party and ministry officials by the Wannsee to co-ordinate the murder of Europe's Jews, already under way.
• 1940The creation of the Warsaw GhettoOn 2 October 1940 Governor Ludwig Fischer ordered a “Jewish district” to be set up in Warsaw. By mid-November some 250,000 people had been forced to move.
• 1942The Great Deportation in the Warsaw GhettoOn 22 July 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. By 21 September they had murdered at least 254,000 people there.
• 1942The Treblinka extermination campOn 22 July 1942 the first transport left Warsaw for Treblinka II. The next day the camp began operating; the Germans murdered some 800,000–900,000 Jews there.
• 1943The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising beginsOn 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, ŻOB and ŻZW fighters drove back the Germans entering the Warsaw Ghetto. They soon returned under Jürgen Stroop.
• 1942Deportations from Łódź to ChełmnoIn mid-January 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Łódź Ghetto to the Chełmno death camp. By the end of January some 10,000 had been murdered.
• 1945The liberation of AuschwitzOn 27 January 1945 soldiers of the Soviet 60th Army entered Auschwitz. They found some 7,000 prisoners, hundreds of bodies and stores of victims’ belongings.
• 1942The Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” is foundedOn 4 December 1942 the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota” was founded in Warsaw under the Government Delegation. It gave hiding Jews money, papers and shelter.