Holocaust Project - Auschwitz 2025

Question

Bring your questions for the YouTube Q&A 12pm (Eastern USA time), Wednesday May 8th.

There is no single list of victims of Nazi persecution..... yet. The Holocaust Project is changing that. Like Wikitree's front page says, you can be a part of something big. No prior experience needed, just jump in.

The Holocaust Project invites you to help us add all victims at Auschwitz (Jews and non-Jews); our goal is to have all documented victims added by January 27, 2025. This is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. You can help by adding profiles from these sites; example searches are linked on the Auschwitz 2025 page: (use Wikitree Bee to easily Add Person/cite source for the first sites 3 listed)

*Joods Monument (the Dutch online memorial, in Dutch & English)

*Yad Vashem

*United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM - Auschwitz search)

*Memorial de la Shoah (only in French, you may wish to use an in-browser translator)

*any similar site of your choosing.

If you prefer working from spreadsheets, we have one on Google Sheets: Auschwitz Death Books/Sterbebücher. This document has about 65,000 people with birth/death dates, places of birth, and religion. 

Please try to add at least one more source and family member. But it’s alright if you cannot- each profile is a planted seed that will grow a tree.

Please use the Auschwitz-Birkenau category, unless you are sure that the person died at Auschwitz I (aka main camp) or Auschwitz III (Monowitz)

It would be helpful if you mention on this post what surname or location you are focused on. Please add an "answer" instead of a "comment" - comments will be deleted after being read once, and I'll send you a PM to make sure your comment is addressed. (edit, added all comments into one "answer" on 10 May)

You do not need to join the Holocaust Project to participate, any WikiTreer is welcome.

Any general questions, ask here! And if you need a new category for a Holocaust-related location (a ghetto, subcamp, etc) post at this G2G link.

Sandy Patak & I will co-host a YouTube presentation on Wednesday May 8th, 12pm Eastern (USA) time to review what we’ve accomplished so far and answer any questions. 

Thank you for participating in this important and historic endeavor.

(Citation link for first sentence -no complete list of victims)

Links from Azure Robinson:

P.S. Share the , spread the word!

• Facebook: Link
• Twitter: Link
• LinkedIn: Link
• Mastodon: Link
• Instagram: Link
• YouTube: Link

Answer 1

Just a few days ago I found a distant relative who died at Auschwitz. I'll start with him and his sister and then try to do others who, like him, lived in Haarlem.

Comments

Thanks so much, Marina!

Answer 2

I would like to join the Holocaust Project. Please let me know a way I can help as I have no idea of where to begin. I have always felt a connection, probably because my paternal ancestors are from areas (in what is now Poland) that the Germans frequently took people from to work in their factories and/or made to work digging trenches outside Nowy Sacz. I have visited Auschwitz a couple of times and believe all the victims should be remembered.

Comments

Oh wow, I would like to visit someday. I can at least to the online tour. Where in Poland are your relatives from? If you're familiar with that places' records, that's a good place to start. Just add it as the birth location on Yad Vashem, and death location Auschwitz.

---

My grandparents were from Maciejowa, Skladziste, and Rostka Mala. I will see what I can find in Nowy Sacz.

Answer 3

I'll be working from the sources at ofb.genealogy.net and the Gedenkbuch im Bundesarchiv (memorial book of the German Federal Archives). The Auschwitz death location list at genealogy.net has 15,489 individual entries, which will keep me busy for a while creating profiles manually ...

Comments

Great! And it's not quite ready yet, I think there are a couple problems, but Wikitree Bee will soon have the Add Person feature for Gedenkbuch.

---

Thanks, Elaine, for the hint!

Answer 4

Hi everyone, I'm new at Wikitree, but am happy to see this very important project! I have records of 18 (so far) known members of my Hungarian family, most of whom died at Auschwitz, who I will add. They are from Budapest, Debrecen, Arad and Nagyvarad (Oradea, Romania). I can also help research others from Hungary and Transylvania.

Comments

Excellent, we could definitely use help with Hungarian research. Let me know if you have any trouble getting started with your family.

Answer 5

I will help the best I can. I will look at the spreadsheet later and see where I can start.

Comments

Great, thanks Kathy!

---

I will start with the Italians as soon as I can.

Answer 6

I am happy to help wherever.

Comments

Awesome, thanks Gina!

Answer 7

I cannot find any records in FamilySearch or anywhere else online for prisoners held in Block 4. For example in the register of Block 4 Prisoner number 35981 Walentik, K born 21 Sept 1901,  25783 We..,ewski born in Warschau in 1916, 20293 Wi..inski Ign. born 12 Feb ?1910, 2515?7 ?Wieczorek G..ttli.. born 6 Apr ?1905 died 23 Aug 1942, 46208 ?Wilschn born 10 ?Apr 1900, 46647 ?Wilczek Edward born 9 Jan 1918 at Ra..., 34618 Wl...ynski Ant born 30 Jan ?1902 at Lutz (?Lodz?) died 28 ?July 1942.  The record image is found at https://www.auschwitz.org/en/museum/about-the-available-data/registration-documents/auschwitz-i-block-4/

These are all male prisoners. I am unsure if records for female prisoners give maiden names. I was trying to find records of the Roma and Sinti men or any that the nazis forced to wear a black triangle but could only find records of female Roma/Sinti.

Comments

Where are the names that you listed from? I checked the first one, Walentik, on the Sterbebucher listing on USHMM and didn't see it. Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- Auschwitz Death Certificates 1941-1943 (ushmm.org)

---

The names are in the image. That is why I gave the link. If you click on the image and press Save you will get the image. After doing so I opened with Paint and zoomed the handwritten image. The handwriting is unfamiliar to me. The list is not in Kurrent handwriting style so the recorder was not German. I have done my best to make those names out.

"The Digital Repository scanned the Register of Block 4. Then the “Blok 4” database containing 2100 records was created out of it. Having entered the data from the Register, individual records were combined with visual material. Then the data of each prisoner were complemented with personal data contained in other databases and source documents, as well as statements, memories and surveys of ex-prisoners kept in the Archive. This allowed for the retracing of the life of each prisoner listed in the document. The database “Blok 4” created as described above has been incorporated into the Central Register of Prisoners kept by the Digital Repository of the National Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau."

---

You can search the names on this page. https://www.auschwitz.org/en/museum/auschwitz-prisoners/

Please note I do not know if the organization allows their archives to be used to create wikitree profiles so I have not created any. "Please note that information about prisoners is issued only to the former prisoners themselves, close relatives, or institutions in Poland and abroad with the required authorization.  

On our website you can also find The database of the partially preserved records of Auschwitz prisoners."

---

The site gives the following sources for Walentik: "Sources:
1. Auschwitz I - Block 4
2. Häftlingskrankenbau Auschwitz I - block 28
3. Photo
4. Stärkebuch
5. Sterbebücher"

---

Thank you. Which part of the site is the "Please note that... authorization" on? I looked and didn't find it. In any case, it seems that the note pertains to additional information on the prisoners which is not publicly available on the website, like the things you have to order from them.

---

https://www.auschwitz.org/en/museum/archives/

---

The Office for Information on Former Prisoners

The Office for Information on Former Prisoners, part of the Archives, uses the original records to issue certificates to former prisoners, attesting to the fact that they were in Auschwitz. Please note that information about prisoners is issued only to the former prisoners themselves, close relatives, or institutions in Poland and abroad with the required authorization.  

On our website you can also find The database of the partially preserved records of Auschwitz prisoners.

Answer 8

Sorry, but as I am not very familiar with Wikitree. I'm unclear about what I should do. Is this about marking existing profiles as belonging to a category of people who died at Auschwitz? And how do we do that? Or adding more profiles of people who died there (seems yes)? I have a lot of Dutch relatives who died at Auschwitz. I don't know how many are on Wikitree.

Comments

Great, thanks David, sent you a message!

Answer 9

I would like to participate. I am interested in people from Poland.

Comments

Hi Jessica, great. I see another Wikitreer, Sandy, stated down below she'll work on Bialystok Children's Transport Lists. (info link, name list link). Maybe you can start from the Z surnames? Or go to USHMM or Yad Vashem and choose your town of interest.

Answer 10

This is a great project. I would like to help anywhere. Jung/Jong families are of special interest. I can read French, German, some Dutch, and a smattering of Yiddish, if that helps.

Comments

Hi H. - thanks for the info on your languages, those could definitely be useful! I just did a search on Yad Vashem for the Jung surname, died at Auschwitz, there were 757 results (YV has about a 25% duplicate rate, usually)  So you can check out the places you are most familiar with in that list. And here is the search on USHMM (Jong and not Jung.... Jung turned up zero results) - Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- Search for Names Results (ushmm.org) I'm not sure of the duplicate rate on USHMM. But in the first page, there are certainly 2 entries for Roosje de Jong, born 1868 in Apeldoorn.... one entry is from a Westerbork Camp list and the other is "index to Dutch married women" from the Netherlands War Graves Foundation.

Answer 11

I will work on the Bialystok Children's Transport Lists.

I thought I had joined the Holocaust Project on WT Day .  I would like to join to help out.

Comments

Great! Will you start from the A surnames? I'll get you the badge for the project & add your email to the GoogleGroup for the Holocaust Project.

---

Yes, I have already started with the A's and will keep going.

Thanks for the badge.

---

Erin has jumped in and helping me work this list too.

---

Awesome, thanks y'all!

Answer 12

I'd love to help. What can I do and start on?

Comments

Great, I sent you a message!

Answer 13

I have added part of a family that includes two victims of Auschwitz:
Georg Friedrich Kornicker and his wife, Elsa, née Hirschel.
I may not have included all teh necessary info to attach the names to the project.

Comments

thanks so much, I'll just do a couple edits. The only thing the project really needs is [[Category: Auschwitz - Birkenau Concentration Camp Victims]]

Answer 14

I began with Sophie Aandagt (Aandagt-26) and fanned out to add many of her family members from there. I have added about 15 people so far.  I must say, in the process of researching these peoples lives and creating their profiles I feel in a way a sense of connection to them. This activity is bringing home the devastation of the Holocaust to me on an entirely new level. It is very moving and I am grateful for this opportunity to participate in this important activity.

Comments

So glad you are joining us - yes, it's difficult & important work.

---

Continuing on from Aandagt-26, I have now added 27 people all related in some manner.  Let me know I should be listing these out for the group someplace.

---

Wow, wonderful! No need to list anywhere. I think we will soon have all the Dutch victims.... one of our former project members, Jaap Streuper, would be so pleased. He worked on it for years; he passed away recently, in his early 80s.

Answer 15

I would like to participate. I can start working on Place of Birth: Greece, Place of Death: Auschwitz, on Yad Vashem (13,694 results as of 30 Apr 2024).

Comments

Awesome! You might want to pick a town, but whatever works for you is good :-)

Answer 16

I would like to help. Will work from US Holocaust museum. TY

Comments

Great, let me know if you need any help finding a place to get started there.

Answer 17

I've been doing Transport 7 from Drancy to Auschwitz deportation July 19, 1942

Comments

Great, thank you, Jeannette!

Answer 18

I can help. Focused on Jews from Thessaloniki/Salonica.

Comments

Great, thank you, Lynn!

Answer 19

I'm having so much trouble with Yad Vashem... won't load half of the time and the other- snail speed loading. :(

Frustrating.

Comments

Totally, happens a couple times a month probably. I replied to your email, but for anyone else reading.... see the original post and try out USHMM, Joods Monument, https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch or https://ofb.genealogy.net/juden_nw/index.php?lang=en  They are all in the Bee Preview for easy adding/sourcing. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_BEE  (see about 4 lines down)

Answer 20

I will start working through the people born in London from the Vad Vashem site, about 567 entries (although some might be duplicates)