Dear JGS Oregon Friends, JGSO Board Member Joan Teller asked me to relay this important message to you. Ron Doctor JGSO Membership Chairman ---------------------------------------------------------------- URGENT CALL TO ACTION FROM YAD VASHEM: REGISTER NAMES OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS WHO PERISHED As the world memorializes Shoah victims on the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, we are witness to the rapid end of the generation of Holocaust survivors. As this generation passes, so passes the memory of the millions of Shoah victims who are yet to be recorded. As leaders of Jewish institutions, who have the ability to reach into the Jewish community, we have an obligation to urge those who possess the memory to share those names for future generations. Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names - now available anywhere in the world at www.yadvashem.org Memorializes and preserves the legacy of each individual Jew who died at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators. A revolutionary milestone in Holocaust remembrance, this site provides an opportunity to search for names, photographs and brief histories of over three million Holocaust victims who died because they were Jewish. A singularly unique resource in scope, content and accessibility, the Database also allows users to submit names, photos and documents on-line. Join the worldwide 11th hour campaign to gather names of all victims of the Holocaust. As many names are still missing, those who have information on victims that are not in listed in the Database are urgently requested to submit them. This year, we you call upon Jewish communities taking part in the "Unto Every Person There is a Name" program, to continue to collect names as you have in the past, but to use this unprecedented opportunity to incorporate the Database into the names collection effort. To submit names on-line via the website go to www.yadvashem.org - click "The Central Database of Shoah Victim's Names" and click Submit New Names on the search page. * Use of the database is free of charge To submit names via the paper form, known as a Page of Testimony, either copy the sample form and instructions that are attached to this letter (they should be reproduced for multiple submissions.) Or download them at: http://www1.yadvashem.org/download/index_download.html Forms may also be ordered from Yad Vashem: via e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +972-2-6443582 or Fax: +972-2-6443579 A general bulletin and guide for activities using the Database is available at: http://www1.yadvashem.org/remembrance/names/site/User_Guides.html For additional ideas and assistance in this effort contact: [email protected] More information about the Database is available at: http://www1.yadvashem.org/remembrance/names/site/home_names.html Of the millions who have visited the website from 175 countrie since the Database was launched in November 2004, thousands of people have written moving personal accounts of how they reconnected with the past or discovered a part of their history they did not know. "The Database allowed my family in the United States to discover family who survived that now live in Jerusalem," wrote Bob Korren from New York. "This is a powerful site which commemorates those who perished an also allows long lost family to reconnect." In February, 2005 two sisters, separated in October 1944 in the Budapest ghetto in Hungary, were reunited after 61 years as a result of a search of the Yad Vashem Names Database conducted by the granddaughter of one of the sisters. To see the full story click: http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/data_whats_new/06.02.05.html On behalf of Yad Vashem, thank you for helping to ensure that every Holocaust victim has a place in our collective memory.