It’s not unusual to hear from people that lost relatives and friends due to the Holocaust that there are no records available for them to find. Well, that isn’t always true. With more and more archival files undergoing indexing projects, there are a significant number of resources that you should be aware of. As coordinator for JewishGen’s Holocaust Database, I’d like to show you what is available through the JewishGen site. In addition, this presentation will give you an overview of some of the other main sources of Holocaust period resources available to family historians. I’ll also include some non-traditional sources of information that might help with your family research.

Nolan Altman was bit by the “genealogy bug” when he was inspired to write his family history in 1996 in memory of his mother. After making use of the valuable information on JewishGen, he volunteered to do data entry on various projects. In time, he was asked to become the Coordinator for JewishGen’s Holocaust Database and subsequently the Coordinator for the JOWBR (JewishGen’s Online Worldwide Burial Registry) project. Nolan works with volunteers from around the world helping to grow both databases for the benefit of family members and researchers. Nolan currently holds the position of JewishGen’s Director for Data Acquisition and focuses on growing the JOWBR, Holocaust and Memorial Plaques databases (https://www.jewishgen.org/). In 2021, JOWBR won the IAJGS Outstanding Project Award. In addition, Nolan served as President and Treasurer for his local society, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island (JGSLI) and still serves as an at-large board member. He created their award-winning YouTube library of instructive videos (https://tinyurl.com/y85s3v3j). He also served in various roles, including Vice-president and Chair of the Membership Development Committee, for the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Board from 2009-2021. Nolan continues to write articles and present to social groups and adult education classes. He has had articles published in Avotaynu, Dorot, Stammbaum, Shemot, LIneage, and the FEEFHS Journal. In 2021, Nolan was recognized by the IAJGS with their Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, the organization’s volunteer award was renamed in his honor, the Nolan Altman IAJGS Volunteer of the Year Award