To return to the simpler combined catalogs search, please click here.
We welcome suggestions, additions, and corrections for this work in progress.
Please Note: This catalog shows the results of a continuing worldwide survey of name-related Holocaust research resources, so while most items described in the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog are held by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, many items are held by separate institutions as noted. For the very best results, please carefully read the instructions and other information below.
About the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog »
Searching the Catalog »
Using ‘Variant Place Names’ and other Special Search Features »
Advanced Search Techniques »
The Holocaust Name Lists Catalog is a work in progress being created by the Registry of Holocaust Survivors to assist research into the records documenting the names of Holocaust survivors and victims. The database already contains thousands of descriptions for documents, books and other resources containing individual names from the Holocaust. Many thousands of name lists still need to be cataloged both from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum holdings and from other repositories around the globe.
While using this Catalog, please pay close attention to the "Museum or Other Institutional Holdings" information for each record. This will tell you what section of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, if any, might have the resource you seek, or whether you need to instead contact a separate institution about it, since many resources listed in this Catalog are NOT available at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In the case of books, periodicals or other published items that are identified, these may be available from one’s local library or through its interlibrary loan service. The information from this Catalog may assist one in obtaining the work through these means.
As a work in process, the Survivors Registry anticipates incomplete records, minor inaccuracies, and omissions in the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog, and so greatly appreciates all suggestions for additions and corrections.
Please also note that the Survivors Registry cannot generally provide copies of the lists described in the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog, nor undertake other extensive research services. Assistance with research on the lists described in this Catalog is strictly limited by our small staff’s availability, with priority given to Holocaust survivors.
The Holocaust Name Lists Catalog is an easy to use yet powerful tool for researchers seeking name-related resources about the Holocaust. Use these guidelines below to improve your search results.
One of the major challenges in locating name-related resources in Holocaust research is the often-bewildering array of different names or spellings by which a single locality may have been known. For example, the current-day city of L’viv in Ukraine has also been variously known officially as Lemburg, Leopol, Lwów or L’vov at different periods in the 20th century. To assist researchers with this complex challenge, the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog offers the ability of automatically running searches through a type of large place name dictionary that the Registry of Holocaust Survivors has developed. This happens behind the scenes when the "All of these, using variant place names" operator is chosen above (as it is by default), so that if one enters "Lemburg" as a search keyword, the actual search will automatically also include the terms "L’viv or Leopol or Lwów or L’vov". To disable this automatic variant place names search function, simply choose one of the other two search operators: "All of these" or "As a phrase".
In search form fields where the "All of these" operator is chosen, this corresponds to the boolean "AND" operator, so that the search must satisfy both terms (i.e. an "All of these" style search for lodz children will return only records where both lodz and children appear anywhere in the field or fields indicated.
In search form fields where the "Any of these" operator is chosen, this corresponds to the boolean "OR" operator, so that the search may satisfy either term (i.e. an "Any of these" style search for lodz children will return all records where either lodz or children appear anywhere in the field or fields indicated.
While simply typing a word or words in the appropriate search box should suffice for most searching, more complex "command line" type search strategies as described in detail below can also be used, when either the "All of these, using variant place names" or "All of these" search operators are chosen in the "Search All Fields" search form field above:
SEARCHES WITH AND, OR AND NOT (BOOLEAN SEARCHES):
The AND Operator:
Like many other search engines, the Holocaust Name Lists Catalog automatically uses "AND" as its default operator, so that if it sees two or more words in the search box it searches for items in the Catalog that contain all of those words:Examples:
children lodz
Finds all items that include both the terms "children" and "lodz" anywhere in the record.
children AND lodz
Performs exactly the same search as the above because the AND operator was automatically assumed.
The OR Operator:
Using OR between two or more search terms will find items that contain any of those terms:
Examples:
children OR lodz
Finds all items with either the term "children" OR "lodz" in them.
The NOT Operator:
Using NOT before a search term will restrict the search to items that do not include that term:
Examples:
children NOT lodz
Finds all items with "children", but does not return those with the term "lodz" in them.
PHRASE SEARCHES:
Placing terms in quotation marks will cause the Catalog to perform a phrase search:
Examples:
"children with lost identity"
Finds all items that include the exact phrase "children with lost identity" in them.
NESTED SEARCHES:
Parentheses can be used to arrange search terms:
Examples:
(children OR child) AND (lodz OR warsaw)
Finds all catalog items that contain either "children" or "child" along with either "lodz" or "warsaw"
SPECIFIC FIELD SEARCHES:
Specific "fields" such as title, author or topical subject keyword in the catalog can be specified:
Examples:
For any word or words in a title, type:
title(your keywords here)
For any word or words in an author’s or a creating organization’s name, type:
author(your keywords here)
For any word or words used as topical subject keywords, type:
keyword(your keywords here)
NOTE: Do not place a space between the field label (i.e. "title", "author" or "keyword") and the opening parenthesis:
INCORRECT title (your keywords here)
CORRECT title(your keywords here)
Naturally, any combination of the above search techniques can be used, such as nested boolean phrase searches of specific fields. The search techniques described above cover only what one imagines might be the most commonly useful features. For a fuller but much more technical description of the search engine’s many other capabilities, including tailoring search term relevance, term proximity searches and so on, please click here.
