Start with what your family knows
Record every known spelling, nickname, patronymic, birth date, occupation, relative and place. Search place variants before assuming a record does not exist. A city may appear under Polish, German, Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew or modern local names. Save archive reference numbers and full citations with every document you find.
Databases to search
Begin with Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names and Pages of Testimony. Search the USHMM Survivors and Victims Names Database, the Arolsen Archives online collection, JewishGen, Yizkor books, national archives, deportation lists, cemetery records and local memorial databases. Arolsen’s archive includes records concerning millions of victims of Nazi persecution, forced laborers and displaced persons.
A non-result is not an answer
Many records were destroyed, never created or remain undigitized. Spelling varies, dates may be wrong, and a person murdered on arrival at a killing center may never have been registered as a prisoner. Treat a failed search as inconclusive, then widen the search to relatives, places, transports and postwar records.
A practical research workflow
Names and places
Record spelling variants, original alphabets, dates, relatives and historical town names before searching databases.
Core archives
Use Yad Vashem, USHMM and Arolsen Archives, then country and community collections and transport lists.
Conflicting records
Different records may disagree on age, spelling or place; preserve the conflict rather than force certainty.
Research log
Document every source, archival identifier, search variant and unresolved question.
Sources
This page is an educational synthesis based on the following sources. Consult the full sources for deeper research.