The ''german: GedenkbuchOpfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft 1933–1945, label=none'' ("''Memorial BookVictims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945''") is a memorial book published by the

German Federal Archives The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (german: Bundesarchiv) are the National Archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and t ...

, listing persons murdered during

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

as part of the Nazis' so-called "

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

". 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 Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

's central database, it is considered an important resource for Holocaust research. Since its publication, many cities and states have published their own memorial books, complementing and expanding on the ''Gedenkbuch''.

History

In 1960, upon request from

, the

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

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" 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 Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, and the Arolsen Archives, in

Bad Arolsen Bad Arolsen (, until 1997 Arolsen, ''Bad'' being the German name for ''Spa'') is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany, in Waldeck-Frankenberg district. From 1655 until 1918 it served as the residence town of the Princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont and t ...

, 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 West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, along with both East and West Berlin.

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

declined to participate in this project. After the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, researchers gained access to a large amount of archival material located in former

and other

former eastern territories of Germany The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...

. 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. Since December 2007, the ''Gedenkbuch'' has been available online; the German Federal Archives continuously publishes additions and corrections based on research and submissions.

Online edition

The core of the online edition is a searchable directory of names. It also contains a detailed chronology of

deportations Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

, and a bibliography. In 2021, the ''Gedenkbuch'' was relaunched with a new interface and additional features.

References

{{reflist Books about the Holocaust Online person databases Holocaust memorials