The CJH provides a collaborative home for five partner organizations:
Once you have explored the above resources, you may wish to find others, many not digitized. Listed below are some of the volumes and archival materials housed in the CJH extensive Partners’ collections. Along with the listings are the call letters and numbers that describe the location of each source. It is possible to order these materials in advance at search.cjh.org for viewing in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room on the 3rd floor at the CJH.
Lebowitz, Arieh, ed., and Jewish Labor Committee. Archives of the Holocaust: An International Collection of Selected Documents: Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University. The Papers of the Jewish Labor Committee. New York: Garland, 1993.
American Jewish Historical Society D804.3 .A7
William E. Wiener Oral History Library. Catalogue of Memoirs of the William E. Wiener Oral History Library. [New York]: American Jewish Committee, 1978. Has an alphabetical list of oral histories of Holocaust survivors and children of survivors, with place of birth, place emphasized in testimony, date of arrival in U.S. and whether the testimony is open to all or requires permission.
Klibanski, Bronia, compiler. Collection of Testimonies, Memoirs, and Diaries : (Record Group 033). Jerusalem: Yad Vashem Central Archives, 1990. A finding aid to Yad Vashem’s collection of manuscripts, diaries, and hidden writings found after the war, including an alphabetical list of authors and an index of places, subjects, and names.
Laska, Vera. Nazism, Resistance & Holocaust in W.W. II : A Bibliography of Over 1,300 Entries in 12 Categories, Including 3 on Women. [Weston, Mass.?]: V. Laska, 1982. Lists books about women in the Resistance, books by female survivors, and books by and about women in hiding.
Meizlish, Penina. Rabanim She-nispu Ba-Sho’ah: Biografiyot shel Rabanim ṿe-Admorim mi-Polin u-mi-She’ar Artsot Mizraḥ Eropah She-nispu Ba-Sho’ah Jerusalem: [Lashon Limudim], 2006. Biographies of Hassidic and other rabbis from Poland and other Eastern European countries who perished in the Holocaust. In Hebrew.
Genealogy Institute BM750 .M38 2006
NOTE: It is possible to see an online version of the book.
Schulman, William L., ed. 2016 Directory: Association of Holocaust Organizations. Houston: Holocaust Museum Houston, 2016. This annual directory lists institutions and organizations in the United States and Canada that provide services and conduct programs related to the Holocaust.
Genealogy Institute D810 .J4 .D51 2016
Totten, Samuel. First-Person Accounts of Genocidal Acts Committed in the Twentieth Century: An Annotated Bibliography.New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.. Pages 91-261 contain a list of recorded interviews by survivors and where they are to be found. The bibliography notes whether a book includes an index of names.
The organizations listed below helped Holocaust survivors immigrate to the United States. There are other archival collections with information about survivors, but these have the largest number of records.
German-Jewish Children’s Aid
A consortium of American social service agencies established this organization in 1934, which acted as the receiving organization for unaccompanied (and some orphaned) Jewish children emigrating primarily from Germany to the United States. In 1942, it was renamed European Jewish Children’s Aid. Most case files are restricted because they contain personal information and may only be viewed with the permission of the Chief Archivist. You may inquire about obtaining permission by writing to archives@yivo.cjh.org. Upon request, you may view a finding aid to this archival collection in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room.
YIVO Archives Record Group 249
The records series most relevant to genealogical research are:
Series 3: Case Folders, 1939-1952. Alphabetical by city of emigration and then by last name.
Series 4: Closed Cases, 1946-1951. Alphabetical by last name.
Series 5: Reception Reports. Chronological by date of ship arrival (no specific mention of case files).
Series 6: Transportation and Fund Raising, 1934-1944. Includes a list of 587 children transported 1939-1941.
Series 7: Identity papers, 1941-1948. Chronological by date of ship arrival, then alphabetical by last name.
Series 8: “Children Abroad” case files, 1945-1949. Alphabetical by last name.
Series 10: Jewish Child Care Association files, 1947-1948. Alphabetical by last name.
United Service for New Americans (USNA)
USNA was created in 1946 through a merger of the National Refugee Service and the Service to Foreign Born Department of the National Council of Jewish Women. USNA helped new immigrants, mostly Holocaust survivors, immigrate and integrate into American life. In 1954, USNA and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Association (HIAS) merged into the United HIAS Service. Most of these files are restricted because they contain personal information and may be viewed only with the permission of the Chief Archivist. You may inquire about obtaining permission by writing to archives@yivo.cjh.org. Upon request, you may view a finding aid to this collection and a case file listing in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room.
YIVO Archives Record Group 246
Another collection of USNA records contains correspondence between the USNA and representatives of welfare agencies, NCJW sections, and refugee committees in cities and towns across the United States regarding the arrival of immigrants settling in these various communities. You can search for names within this correspondence.
American Jewish Historical Society I-93
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and Related Organizations
Founded in New York City in 1881, HIAS is an international migration and refugee resettlement service, providing translation assistance, financial and legal aid, transportation arrangements, and employment and advocacy services. Over the years HIAS has absorbed the functions and records of several related agencies, for example, United Service for New Americans (USNA).
YIVO Archives Record Group 245 contains the largest portion of these records, divided into several subgroups and series. The case file portions contain personal information and may be viewed only with the permission of the Chief Archivist. You may inquire about obtaining permission by writing to archives@yivo.cjh.org. Upon request, finding aids to these collections may be viewed in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room.
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (Boston) Papers, 1870-1977 (bulk 1938-1954)
These papers contain HIAS records pertaining to immigrants who arrived in Boston. Please note that the individual case files are held at the AJHS New England Archives. More recent case files (from 1960 on) are restricted and viewing requires advance permission by the archivist of the AJHS New England Archives. You may inquire about obtaining permission by writing to reference@ajhsboston.org, A complete copy of the arrival index cards is available on microfilm at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) at the CJH in New York. You may search for names within the entire collection.
American Jewish Historical Society I-96
American Joint Distribution Committee *
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (also known as the JDC) was founded on November 27, 1914, in order to facilitate and centralize the collection and distribution of funds by American Jews for Jews abroad.
Personal Service Department (Transmigration Bureau)
The JDC established its Personal Service Department in 1940 primarily to assist American Jews in locating their missing European relatives. The Department’s records include case files that contain correspondence with individuals, their relatives, and other organizations to which the JDC referred cases, including USNA and HIAS, and reports on the location of relatives. Access to the materials in this collection will only be granted to users who can demonstrate a legitimate research need. Please submit requests to view any folder in this collection via email to archives@yivo.cjh.org. You may view a finding aid to this collection in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room.
YIVO Archives Record Group 335.6
Landsmanshaftn Department
The JDC established its Landsmanshaftn Department, originally known as the Landsmanshaftn Bureau, in 1919 to encourage relief efforts by the landsmanshaftn in the United States for their native communities in Eastern Europe. Having been discontinued twice, it was revived in 1945 and took on the additional responsibilities of facilitating immigration and locating survivors. The relevant section of the collection is Series II, Sub-series 6, which contains correspondence between the Landsmanshaftn Department and various landsmanshaftn about their native towns and any survivors there. There also are reports and communications from JDC regional offices on the disbursement of contributed sums and letters from survivors to their landsmanshaftn. The subseries is arranged alphabetically by native town but, in most cases, the information is about survivors of the town who were living elsewhere.
YIVO Archives Record Group 335.7
*NOTE: Additional collections of JDC case files are described in the Germany and Italy sections of this guide. Additionally, you may search the JDC Names Index of those helped by the JDC.
Yizkor books are memorial books that commemorate Eastern European Jewish communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust. The books were typically created by landsmanshaftn (societies of immigrants from the same town) after the Holocaust. They often are concerned with one or two main towns and several surrounding smaller towns, but, in some cases, cover entire regions and even countries. The books are typically written in Hebrew and/or Yiddish.
For more information, please see our Yizkor Books Research Guide.
Jewish World Congress, Lists of Holocaust Survivors and Victims, Bibliography of Lists.Register of Jewish Survivors I, List of Jews Rescued in Different European Countries by Sheerit Ha-Pletah by