I seized the afternoon and went to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Library where I had a chance to do research on specific towns in Poland and look at a book of Jewish given names and the origins of each name which can be helpful if you find that someone's name is unusual and wonder from which ancestor this name is taken. From the library's Internet I rechecked information I had obtained through JewishGen and The New York Public Library. I was treated in a warm and professional manner.
One of the important programs of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is the ASK A SURVIVOR program. You see, as the years go by and we get the distance of over 50 years from World War II and the Holocaust (of course we know that other people on this earth have been and are being Holocaust besides the Jewish people and that about a third of the victims of the Holocaust were not Jewish), there are those who say "it never happened!" We know databases are imperfect for so very many reasons but hearing the stories from those who experienced the nightmare puts an end to that denial.
This program is one of several I've heard of that documents the experiences of those who lived through. It is important to not deny that humans can be horrifically cruel to other humans.
For those who have lost family to this World War II or another Holocaust, documenting and bringing the person's life back into discussion is a matter of family honor. It doesn't just honor the person(s) but the family itself, which has been fractured from the outside.
LINKING TO THE CENTER RESEARCH AREA
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights
