Here, during a time when our country seems to be stiff arming our allies, let us remember our Jewish allies and why we stand behind them. Remember what they have gone through for centuries, and if we have Jewish ancestors, honor our dead by honoring our commitments to the living.
The records that the Jewish communities collected are called Yizkor books, Pages of Testimoney, and lists of victims and deportees. The Yizkor books are usually written in Yiddish or Hebrew and contains the histories of a town or community, memories of the town, and testimonials from friends about families who had no survivors.
These books are usually privately printed in small publishing runs. Pages of Testimony is a list of information on over 3 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. Each page records the individual's name, year and place of birth, names of parents and spouse, place of residence before the war, places of residence during the war, and circumstances of death (place, date, and so forth.)
The record is signed and dated by the person giving the testimony. A good guide to researching Holocaust families is How to Document Victims and Locate Survivors of the Holocaust by Gary Mokotoff.
