How to uncover your family's Holocaust history when the stories were never told

A guide for descendants of Holocaust survivors on researching family history when survivors are no longer alive. Experts from Yad Vashem and Arolsen Archives provide advice on starting research, requesting records, and dealing with name spelling variations. The article features Amit Baida, who researched his great-uncle Abraham Klajner, believed to have been in Buchenwald.

Amit Baida, born and raised in southern Israel and now living in Germany, set out to learn about his great-uncle Abraham Klajner, who was believed to have been imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp during the Holocaust but never spoke about his experiences. Baida discovered that asking relatives was insufficient, as neither his father nor grandmother knew much. Research at Yad Vashem and Arolsen Archives uncovered previously unknown documents, though the process required working through incomplete biographical information and different spellings of Abraham's surname. The article, published on November 11, 2026, serves as a guide for descendants of Holocaust survivors worldwide who are undertaking similar research. Experts explain why survivors often remained silent—Giora Zwilling of Arolsen Archives notes that in Israel, many survivors did not discuss their experiences in the 1940s and 1950s, while in the former Soviet Union, victims faced stigmatization. Psychologist Dan Bar-On described a "double wall" where parents avoided painful memories and children hesitated to ask. Serafima Velkovich of Yad Vashem says the second generation is now particularly active in research, often after retirement. The article provides practical steps: start by collecting family information, record older relatives' recollections, and search for birth and marriage records. For archival requests, a spreadsheet with known details, including possible name spellings, helps archivists. Key resources include Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names and Arolsen Archives, which holds over 110 million digital images. The choice of archive depends on the person's known fate, such as deportation from France or imprisonment in a specific camp.