Israel: Memorials to vanished communities

There are more than 350 monuments - representing more than 1,400 communities and countries - in Israel. The Israel Genealogical Society has announced that its online database of Memorials to Vanished Communities in Israel is now available here.

The project is in memory of Dr. Ludger Moyal and was prepared for the 2004 IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Jerusalem.

The database also includes memorials dedicated to certain towns where pogroms occured not related to the Holocaust.There are a few cases where memorials are dedicated to town Jews who suffered pogroms which were not related to the Shoah.

The memorials were built by associations of former residents (landsmanschaften) of communities in Europe annihilated during the Shoah. The immigrants arrived in Eretz Israel before, during or after the Shoah. Many but not all of the monuments are located in cemeteries in Israel, and contain soil brought from the killing fields in Europe . A large number of the memorials commemorate more than one community.

This project does not include every single memorial in Israel . In particular, we have not yet documented the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem , which we intend to carry out as an entire project.

The IGS appreciates hearing from readers who may have corrections, who have discovered an error of identification for a memorial, or know of additional cenotaphs not included. Please email the IGS webmaster.