Gedenkbuch
{{Short description|Memorial book of Holocaust victims}}
{{use dmy dates |date=April 2023}}
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The {{langx|de|Gedenkbuch{{snd}}Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft 1933–1945|label=none}} ("Memorial Book{{snd}}Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945") is a memorial book published by the German Federal Archives, listing persons murdered during the Holocaust as part of the Nazis' so-called "Final Solution". It is limited to people, regardless of nationality, who voluntarily lived within the borders of the German Reich as of December 31, 1937. Since 2007, it has been available online. As of February 2020, it contained 176,475 names. Alongside the Arolsen Archives and Yad Vashem's central database, it is considered an important resource for Holocaust research.{{cite web |language=de |trans-title=The Lives Behinds the Names |url=https://www.fnp.de/lokales/wetteraukreis/die-leben-hinter-den-namen-91428617.html |access-date=21 April 2023 |newspaper=Frankfurter Neue Presse |title=Die Leben hinter den Namen |quote=Durch die Möglichkeiten des Internets ließ sich die mühselige Datensuche großteils von zu Hause aus erledigen. Andererseits hätten kaum man noch Zeitzeugen befragen können. Wichtige Datenquellen waren das »International Center on Nazi Presecution« in Bad Arolsen, das Bundesarchiv Gedenkbuch über die Naziverfolgten (Koblenz) und die Datenbanken der Internationalen Holocaust Gedenkstätte Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. [Thanks to the possibilities of the Internet, the laborious data search could largely be done from home. On the other hand, it would hardly have been possible to interview contemporary witnesses. Important data sources were the "International Center on Nazi Presecution" in Bad Arolsen, the Bundesarchiv Gedenkbuch about those persecuted by the Nazis (Koblenz) and the databases of the International Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.] }}{{cite web |url=https://www.riga-komitee.eu/schicksale |title=Schicksale |work=German Riga Committee: The Association of Cities for the Remembrance and Commemoration of the Deportation of Jews |language=de |trans-title=Fates |access-date=April 20, 2023 }}{{cite web |url=https://provenienzforschung.zlb.de/en/the-books-paths/ |work=Berlin Central and Regional Library |access-date=21 April 2023 |title=Provenance research: The books' paths }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/books/review/Newhouse-t.html |title=Portrait in Grief |newspaper=The New York Times |date=20 January 2008 |last1=Newhouse |first1=Alana |access-date=21 April 2023 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/23/nyregion/l-resource-to-trace-holocaust-survivors-616791.html |access-date=21 April 2023 |first=Claire |last=Hertzberg |title=Resource to Trace Holocaust Survivors |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 June 1991 }}{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhYb73CHmt8C&pg=PA185 |page=185-186 |title=Jews in Nazi Berlin: From Kristallnacht to Liberation |chapter=Every Person Has a Name |isbn=9780226521596 |last1=Meyer |first1=Beate |last2=Simon |first2=Hermann |last3=Schütz |first3=Chana |date=15 December 2009 |access-date=21 April 2023 }} Since its publication, many cities and states have published their own memorial books, complementing and expanding on the Gedenkbuch.{{cite web |url=https://www.juedisches-leben-thueringen.de/gedenkbuch/ |work=MENORA - Jüdisches Leben in Thüringen |title=Thüringer Gedenkbuch für die ermordeten Jüdinnen und Juden |language=de |trans-title=Thuringian Memorial Book for the Murdered Jews |access-date=21 April 2023 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.uni-bamberg.de/euroethno/forschung/projekte/forschungsstelle-landjudentum/gedenkbuch/ |title=Gedenkbuch der jüdischen Bürger Oberfrankens |work=University of Bamberg |access-date=21 April 2023 |language=de |trans-title=Memorial Book of the Jewish Citizens of Upper Franconia }}{{cite web |url=https://gedenkbuch.muenchen.de/index.php?id=projekt0 |work=City of Munich |access-date=21 April 2023 |title=
Das Biografische Gedenkbuch der Münchner Juden 1933-1945 |language=de |trans-title=The Biographical Memorial Book of Munich's Jews 1933-1945 }}{{cite web |url=https://gedenkbuch-duesseldorf.de/das-projekt/ |language=de |publisher=City of Düsseldorf |access-date=April 21, 2023 |title=Das Projekt und die Recherche |trans-title=The Project and the Research |work=Memorial Book Düsseldorf }}
History
In 1960, upon request from Yad Vashem, the Federal Ministry of the Interior issued a letter instructing state and local governments to begin collecting records about their former Jewish populations. The German Federal Archives needed 25 years to complete the "immense task"{{cite journal |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/fr/article/view/53766 |doi=10.11588/fr.1989.3.53766 |year=1989 |volume=16 |last1=Poliakov |first1=Léon |title=Gedenkbuch. Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933–1945, 1986 |journal=Francia |language=fr |issue=3 |pages=271–272 |access-date=21 April 2023 }} of compiling and reviewing this data.
The first edition of the Gedenkbuch was published in 1986 in two volumes, prepared by the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, and the Arolsen Archives, in Bad Arolsen, Germany. This edition contained approximately 128,000 names and listed victims who had lived in the parts of the German Reich that became West Germany, along with both East and West Berlin.{{cite web |url=https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=30817 |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=April 20, 2023 |title=Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- Gedenkbuch }}{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/DE-gednk.txt |work=JewishGen |title=Essential Gedenkbuch [Memorial Book] |orig-date=1 December 1994 |date=4 May 2009 |access-date=April 20, 2023 }} East Germany declined to participate in this project.
After the end of the Cold War, researchers gained access to a large amount of archival material located in former East Germany and other former eastern territories of Germany. This data was incorporated into a considerably expanded second edition of the Gedenkbuch, which was published in 2006 in four volumes, edited and published by the German Federal Archives. The second edition included victims who had lived within the 1937 borders of the German Reich, with a total of approximately 149,600 names.{{cite web |url=https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=29727 |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |access-date=April 20, 2023 |title=Gedenkbuch – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft 1933–1945 }}
Since December 2007, the Gedenkbuch has been available online; the German Federal Archives continuously publishes additions and corrections based on research and submissions.{{cite web |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/introduction/en |title=Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 |work=German Federal Archives |access-date=6 April 2023 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.augias.net/2007/12/23/anet6045/ |title=Gedenkbuch für die jüdischen NS-Verfolgungsopfer online |language=de |trans-title=Memorial Book for the Jewish Victims of Nazi Persections Online |work=AUGIAS.net |date=23 December 2007 |access-date=21 April 2023 }}
{{Text and translation |Dieses Gedenkbuch gibt den Ermordeten ihren Namen und damit ihre Menschenwürde wieder. Es ist zugleich ein Denkmal und eine Erinnerung daran, dass jedes einzelne Menschenleben einen Namen und eine einzigartige Geschichte hat. |This memorial book gives the murdered their names and thus their human dignity back. It is both a memorial and a reminder that every single human life has a name and a unique story. |Preface to the second edition, written by president of Germany Horst Köhler }}
= Online edition =
The core of the online edition is a searchable directory of names.{{cite web |work=German Federal Archives |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch |title=Gedenkbuch - Search in memorial book |access-date=6 April 2023 }}{{cite press release |url=https://www.stiftung-denkmal.de/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/online-gedenkbuch-des-bundesarchivs-im-holocaust-denkmal-zugaenglich/ |title=Online-Gedenkbuch des Bundesarchivs im Holocaust-Denkmal zugänglich |date=23 January 2008 |work=Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe |publisher=Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media |language=de |trans-title=Online Memorial Book of the German Federal Archives Accessible in the Holocaust Memorial |access-date=April 20, 2023 }} It also contains a detailed chronology of deportations,{{cite web |work=German Federal Archives |access-date=6 April 2023 |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/chronology/view.xhtml?lang=en |title=Gedenkbuch - Deportation chronology }} and a bibliography.
In 2021, the Gedenkbuch was relaunched with a new interface and additional features.{{cite web |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/Meldungen/2020-09-01_relaunch-gedenkbuch.html |date=April 29, 2021 |access-date=April 20, 2023 |title=Relaunch des Online-Gedenkbuchs des Bundesarchivs |language=de |trans-title=Relaunch of the Federal Archives' Online Gedenkbuch |work=German Federal Archives |first=Tanja |last=von Fransecky }}