#EveryNameIsaWorld
Help us restore the names of the Holocaust victims before it is too late
The Nazis did not only seek to murder Jews — they sought to obliterate each and every one, as if they had never lived.
One young man said it simply. David Berger, a Jew from Poland murdered at just 22, wrote before his death: “I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger.”
With your help his plea has become our mission.
Yad Vashem has turned his plea into our mission. With the support of many dedicated individuals like yourself, we have searched the globe for the names of Holocaust victims. After 70 years of tireless work, five million names have been recovered. Five million lives restored to memory.
Yet nearly one million victims remain nameless — and time is running out.
Many survivors are gone. Documents are deteriorating. Traditional sources have given almost all they can. That’s why Yad Vashem is turning to advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence to uncover names hidden in fading testimonies, handwritten letters, and forgotten records.
This is where you come in. Please act now to ensure that no name – no life - is ever forgotten.
Every gift helps:
· Acquire and process additional archival documents
· Transcribe testimonies
· Utilize advanced tools to recover names
· Share our discoveries with the world — through the monumental Book of Names and the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names.
With your help another name can be recovered, another promise kept. You can be the reason someone is remembered. Because every name is a world — and no world should ever be forgotten.
OUR MISSION
Established in 1986, the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem’s (CSYV) mission is to disseminate the universal lessons of the Holocaust across Canada through commemorative and educational activities.
Revitalization of the
Valley of the Communities
The Valley of the Communities at Yad Vashem is a massive 2.5 acre monument literally dug out of natural bedrock. Over 5000 names of communities are engraved on its 107 stone walls which roughly corresponds to the geographic arrangement of the map of Europe and North Africa. Each name recalls a Jewish community which existed for hundreds of years; for the inhabitants, each community constituted an entire world.
Today, in most cases, nothing remains but the name.
"This memorial commemorates the Jewish communities destroyed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and the few which suffered but survived in the shadow of the Holocaust. For more than one thousand years, Jews lived in Europe, organizing communities to preserve their distinct identity. In periods of relative tranquility, Jewish culture flourished, but in periods of unrest, Jews were forced to flee. Wherever they settled, they endowed the people amongst whom they lived with their talents. Here their stories will be told.."
Yad Vashem has unveiled its plan to make The Valley of the Communities more easily accessible and appropriate for all visitors including families with young children. Whereas the Museum is only intended for children over the age of 10, The Valley of the Communities which focusses on Jewish life between the two World Wars will be appropriate for all. In addition to infrastructure updates, there will be two main elements to the revitalization: an evening based interactive video and sound program shown on the walls of the Valley, and an educational centre appropriate for all ages, which will be available daily during the times that the main Holocaust Museum remains open.
