Which sources were used, how were they used and why?
In Memoriam
Municipality Lists
The so-called Municipality lists form the basic source of the Monument. These are lists of Jewish residents per municipality, which Dutch municipalities were required to compile by order of the German occupying forces, pursuant to Decree 6 of January 10, 1941. These lists were compiled (mostly between February and May 1941) based on forms that Jews were required to complete themselves. These lists were often subsequently checked by the municipalities against the population register. This makes this source more accurate than other sources. In the event of discrepancies between the data from the municipal lists and, for example, In Memoriam, the data from the municipal lists were always used as the starting point.
If no municipal list for a municipality has been preserved, alternative sources were sought. Data from population registers, personal records, the reconstructions of Jewish communities included in various memorial books, and databases compiled by other researchers were used. These lists always provide the name, date and place of birth, and address, and in many cases also information about the family composition and occupations of the family members.
In Memoriam
The data from the municipal lists (and the other sources mentioned above if a municipal list was not available) were linked to sources that provide information about the date and place of death. In Memoriam was used first for this purpose. This book contains the names of deceased persons who were "deported from the Netherlands and for whom no grave is known." This source therefore lacks almost all the names of people who died in a camp in the Netherlands, people who committed suicide, people who died of 'natural' causes, and Jewish political prisoners who were transported to Germany early in the war, before the large-scale mass deportations, and were murdered shortly afterwards. This gap has been addressed as much as possible by transferring the data from other sources, such as: the death registers from Camp Westerbork, Camp Vught, and Camp Amersfoort; obituaries from the Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad and Het Joodsche Weekblad; and the lists of suicides as compiled by the Jewish Council.
Based on a careful comparison (see below) between the municipal lists and the aforementioned sources containing data on the date and place of death, it was determined which people survived the war. Only those who could be determined with a high degree of certainty did not survive the war were included in the Monument. People who are on the municipal lists but not included in In Memoriam and the other sources mentioned were not included. In cases of doubt, exclusion was always chosen.
The principle underlying this is that it is less painful to exclude people who did not survive the Shoah from the Monument than to include those who did.
Jewish Coordination Committee
As an additional check, the sources containing information on date and place of death were also compared with the lists of survivors compiled by the Jewish Coordination Committee (JCC) shortly after the war (these lists are often referred to as "Eindhoven lists" because that's where the JCC was initially located) and the data collected on survivors by various researchers.
The following procedure was used to link the aforementioned sources: first, links were made if the full name, date and place of birth matched completely or almost completely. The results were then checked for possible inconsistencies. Of all possible matches, approximately 89 percent were generated more or less automatically in this way. In addition, a link could be established manually for 5 percent. People who are listed in In Memoriam but do not appear on the municipal lists are still included in the Monument. We have no information about these people other than their full name, place and date of birth, and place and date of death. They are not assigned to a family and have no address.
Inventory Lists
The next step was to link the personal data to sources with additional data, such as information about a family's household goods. This data comes from the inventory lists. An inventory list can be found in a Jokos file or in the archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. We also examined whether a Liro card has been preserved for the individuals included in the Monument and whether there are any entries on the jewelry and painting lists. In addition, student lists from (Jewish) schools are included; data about Jewish-owned shops in Amsterdam; and information about the members of a Jewish football club. Furthermore, the application forms that more than five hundred diamond workers completed to apply for exemption are included.
National Database of Victims of Persecution (NDVS).
The NDVS, National Database of Victims of Persecution, is a database containing basic information on victims of persecution, jointly managed by the Jewish Museum / Digital Jewish Monument and the Westerbork Camp Memorial Center. Since 2017, the NDVS has been linked to the Digital Jewish Monument. For more information about the NDVS, see National Database of victims of Persecution
Dutch Jews deported from other countries
The Digital Jewish Monument also lists Dutch Jews deported from countries other than the Netherlands. The largest number are those deported from Belgium or France.
The dates and places of death of the victims on the Digital Jewish Monument are based on the officially valid death certificates. In many cases, these certificates were determined based on an assessment by authorized agencies. Often at the time of this assessment, little or no data was available. The date and place of death were determined based on several assumptions, such as a fixed period after the date of deportation, with the place of death being the determining factor (for example, three days after the date of deportation), or the end of the month in which the victim was last heard of. If new information becomes available based on new insights and this new information differs from the officially valid information, the Digital Jewish Monument has chosen to include this new information in a supplement to the relevant victim page.
If no death certificate is available, other sources are used to determine the date and place of death. If this is not possible, the date and place of death are shown as unknown.
Ies Lipschits
Ies Lipschits has written biographical notes for approximately 6,000 individuals and families listed in the Monument. A wide variety of sources, including both literature and archival material, were used to compile these biographical notes. Each note includes a source reference.
Visitor Additions.
Visitors, historians, and relatives continually contribute additions to the site. In the early years (from 2005 to 2010), this was done by email, telephone, or letter, and the responses were processed anonymously, as additions from website visitors. Since 2010, users have been contributing information directly.
