A Yizkor book (also called a memorial book or Sefer Yizkor) is a special kind of community memorial volume created—most often after the Holocaust—to preserve the memory of Jewish communities that were destroyed.
Here’s what they are and why they matter:
- Purpose: They were written to remember the people, culture, institutions, and way of life of Jewish towns (shtetls) in Eastern and Central Europe that were wiped out during World War II. “Yizkor” means “remembrance” in Hebrew, and the books serve as collective memorials.
Content:
- Histories of the town (schools, synagogues, organizations, economy, daily life).
- Personal memoirs and survivor testimonies.
- Names of victims and survivors.
- Photographs, maps, and documents.
- Essays or poetry written in Hebrew, Yiddish, or sometimes English.
Who Created Them: Survivors, emigrants, and landsmanshaftn (associations of people from the same town) compiled them, often in the 1950s–1970s, sometimes decades later.
Genealogical Value: They are invaluable to family historians. Even when they don’t include complete lists of residents, they often contain names, stories, and details that are not available anywhere else.
Access Today: Thousands of Yizkor books have been digitized and are available through institutions like the New York Public Library, Yad Vashem, and the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project.
In short, a Yizkor book is a memorial and historical record of a Jewish community, created by survivors and descendants so that the community’s story is not lost.
