El Paso Public Library - El Paso Public Library - Pathfinders - Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah)

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day that has been set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding Americans of what can happen to civilized people when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign. The United States Holocaust Memorial Council, created by act of Congress in 1980, was mandated to lead the nation in civic commemorations and to encourage appropriate Remembrance observances throughout the country. Observances and Remembrance activities can occur during the week of Remembrance that runs from the Sunday before through the Sunday after the actual date.

Jewish men selected for forced labor at Auschwitz-Birkenau

(Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum--
Auschwitz through the lens of the SS
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/ssalbum/

Yom Hashoah Observances Through the Year 2016
2009	Tuesday, April 21
2010	Sunday, April 11
2011	Sunday, May 1
2012	Thursday, April 19
2013	Sunday, April 7
2014	Sunday, April 27
2015	Thursday, April 16
2016	Thursday, May 5

While there are obvious religious aspects to such a day, it is not a religious observance as such. The internationally�recognized date comes from the Hebrew calendar and corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on that calendar. That is the date on which Israel commemorates the victims of the Holocaust. In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom Hashoah. When the actual date of Yom Hashoah falls on a Friday (as will happen in 2008) the state of Israel, following the Knesset legislation establishing the event, observes Yom Hashoah on the preceding Thursday. When it falls on a Sunday (2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014), Yom Hashoah is observed on the following Monday.

The Holocaust is not merely a story of destruction and loss; it is a story of an apathetic world and a few rare individuals of extraordinary courage. It is a remarkable story of the human spirit and the life that flourished before the Holocaust, struggled during its darkest hours, and ultimately prevailed as survivors rebuilt their lives.

(Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum � Days of Remembrance
http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/calendar/

Online Catalog Subject Headings

Here are a few subject headings to use in the online catalog to find books about the Holocaust
	Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
	Kindertransports (Rescue operations)
	Holocaust (Christian theology)
	Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust
	World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance
	World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews
	Holocaust denial
	Jewish children in the Holocaust
Another way to find Subject Headings about the Holocaust is to do a �Subject Keyword� search using the key words �Holocaust� or �Holocaust� and �Denial� or �Holocaust� and �Literature.� There are over 600 records in the El Paso Public Library Online Catalog using the keyword �Holocaust.�

Reference Resources

	The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust
	Written by Donald Niewyk and Francis Nicosia
	Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 2000 ISBN: 9780231112000
	Call no: R 940.5318 NIE	See location in Online Catalog
This resource provides a multidimensional survey of the Holocaust, integrating five separate books into one reference tool: a historical overview; a guide to Holocaust controversies; an A-to-Z encyclopedia of people, places, and terms; a chronology; and a comprehensive resource guide.

	The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust
	Edited by Shmuel Spector and Geoffrey Wigoder ; foreword by Elie Wiesel
	H. W. Wilson, New York, NY, 1984 ISBN: 9780814793565
	Call no: R 940.04924 ENC v.1-3	See location in Online Catalog
This three-volume encyclopedia chronicles Jewish life before and during the Holocaust. Arranged alphabetically by town, thousands of entries explore centuries of Jewish life. Some entries, particularly for large cities, provide information on Jewish residents as early as the Middle Ages and discuss the fate of Jews during the Black Death persecutions (1348-1349) and various pogroms from the 17th to 20th centuries. Each entry provides information on the town's Jewish inhabitants on the eve of German occupation, gives the dates of Jewish roundups and mass executions and estimates how many Jews from that community survived the war.

	The Holocaust and World War II Almanac
	Edited by Peggy Saari, Aaron Maurice Saari, et. al.
	Gale Group, Detroit, MI, 2001 ISBN: 9780787650186
	Call no: R 940.5318 HOL v.1-3	See location in Online Catalog
The first two volumes in this work on the Holocaust cover the subject chronologically and topically, while Volume 3 contains 100 biographical sketches of individuals. Each volume begins with an 1871-2000 chronology, a glossary of terms, and a set of "Research Ideas" for students and teachers.

	Holocaust Survivors : A Biographical Dictionary
	Written by Emily Taitz
	Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 2007 ISBN: 9780313336768
	Call no: R 940.5318 TAI	See location in Online Catalog
This book comprises 278 entries on more than 500 survivors of the World War II genocide. The profiles, averaging 500 words, are mostly of Jews, both individuals and family members, from throughout Europe. Organized alphabetically, the essays cover their background, circumstances and ordeals during the war, aftermath, and life achievements, including family and career.

Books

The Complete History of the Holocaust
Edited by Mitchell G. Bard
Greenhaven Press, San Diego, CA, 2001 ISBN: 9780737703733
Call no: 940.5318 COM	See location in Online Catalog
In this anthology, more than ninety works by survivors, scholars and journalists, including writers such as Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, and best-selling historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen cover virtually every aspect of the Holocaust, from the rise of Hitler to the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

	A Promise to Remember: The Holocaust in the Words and Voices of its Survivors
	Written by Michael Berenbaum
	Bulfinch Press, Boston, MA, 2003 ISBN: 9780821228289
	Call no: 940.5318 BER	See location in Online Catalog
Michael Berenbaum, bestselling author and former director of the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, provides the narrative for this concise history of the Holocaust. Each chapter addresses a different topic, moving from the rise of the Nazis and ghettoization to the death camps and liberation. Events are personalized as survivors tell their stories. Many of these stories also appear on the accompanying hour-long CD.

	The Righteous : The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust
	Written by Martin Gilbert
	Henry Holt, New York, NY, 2003 ISBN: 9780805062601
	Call no: 940.5318 GIL	See location in Online Catalog
Drawing from twenty-five years of research, Sir Martin Gilbert re-creates the remarkable stories of non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during the Holocaust.

Database Resources

EBSCO Publications - MasterFILE Premier

Ebsco MasterFILE Premier is designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for more than 1,730 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also includes nearly 500 full text reference books, 84,774 biographies, 100,554 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of 235,186 photos, maps and flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost.

This database is available as part of the TexShare Databases which are commercial database subscriptions that are paid for by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) for use by registered patrons of Texas public libraries.

A keyword subject search for "Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)" yields:

1,988 Periodical References

24 Reference Book sources

6 Biographies

5 Primary Source Documents

Internet Resources

United State Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/

�A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stimulates leaders and citizens to confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy�Since its dedication in 1993, the Museum has welcomed more than 25 million visitors, including more than 8 million school children and 85 heads of state. Today 90 percent of the Museum�s visitors are not Jewish, and our Web site, the world�s leading online authority on the Holocaust, had 15 million visits in 2006 from an average of 100 different countries daily.�

Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority http://www.yadvashem.org/
	�Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, is the Jewish people�s memorial to the murdered Six Million and symbolizes the ongoing confrontation with the rupture engendered by the Holocaust. Containing the world�s largest repository of information on the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is a leader in Shoah education, commemoration, research and documentation.�

The El Paso Holocaust Museum
http://www.
elpasoholocaustmuseum.org/index.sstg

The mission of the El Paso Holocaust Museum & Study Center is:
   � to educate the public, particularly young people, about the Nazi Holocaust as a way
     of insuring that similar acts will not be repeated
   � to honor those who perished in the Holocaust and those who survived;
   � to oppose prejudice and bigotry by reminding the world of the importance of
     acceptance, the value and dignity of human life, and of the consequences of
     negating these principles.