Today, the Young Committee launched a digital community as the next step in building a global network of descendants of victims of Nazi-crimes during the Second World War. The goal is to bring people of the third and fourth generation together and share their personal stories.
“If we want to be able to preserve our family history, we need to start gathering their stories right now”, says Tom Devos, vice-president of the YC. “We decided to build a free online member directory for every descendant to join freely and share the story of their family members who were a victim of the Nazi-concentration camps”.
“These stories we will use as a starting point for our educational material that we are creating”, adds Swenja Granzow-Rauwald, president of the YC. “Educational material today is mostly based on historical facts, which is important, but we need the emotional trigger as well to make the historical facts stick. That is where the personal stories are for. We hope to reach as many descendants as possible for them to join our network, and keep the memory of our elders alive and use it for developing critical minds across the globe”.
The digital community is a first step in the challenge of the Young Committee to build a global network. You can become a member for free by registering online and sharing your family story. Then you will also be invited for upcoming events and get support from our board on research matters.
Register today and become a member!