Holocaust Commemoration – Racheli Kreisberg

SIMON WIESENTHAL GENEALOGY
GEOLOCATION INITIATIVE (SWIGGI)

For over 20 years, I have been carrying out extensive genealogy research of my family roots which originate from the Galician Shtetls Buczacz and Skala Podolska, nowadays in the Ukraine.

This genealogy research led to development of the Simon Wiesenthal Genealogy Geolocation Initiative (SWIGGI) which identifies the location of the houses of their 19th and mid-20th century ancestors on
Google Maps.

So far, we have developed SWIGGI Vienna, SWIGGI The Netherlands, SWIGGI Lodz, SWIGGI Skala Podolska, SWIGGI Solotwina and SWIGGI Nadworna and we enable people to search our proprietary databases for names, addresses and even family trees through a graphical user interface.

SIMON WIESENTHAL COMMEMORATION
AND HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

Upon the passing of Simon Wiesenthal, my late grandfather, on the 20th of Sept. 2005, I started to pay tribute to him on the Simon Wiesenthal Commemoration website.

The Simon Wiesenthal Commemoration focuses, among others, information on his life story, streets and institutions named after him, the Simon Wiesenthal Path in the Martyr’s Forest, which I initiated in cooperation with the KKL, and numerous Simon Wiesenthal Jahrzeit and Holocaust events which I organized.

Additionally, I began researching his family and the 89 murdered family members, many of whom I traced, which eventually led to the development of the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Memorial (SW-HoMe). SW-HoMe commemorates individuals who perished during the Holocaust in concentration camps and in their hometowns by lighting digital Yizkor candles. The Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Deportation Maps (SW HDM) show the destination of the Jews from given cities or countries.

SIMON WIESENTHAL
HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Education of younger generations was of great importance to Simon Wiesenthal, and he always made time to meet with school children in his office in Vienna. He was convinced that the Holocaust should be taught, that lessons should be learned and that one must make sure that there would never again be a Shoah. After the passing of Simon Wiesenthal in September 2005 in Vienna, pupils and students could no longer hear his personal stories. It became clear that new ways had to be developed to pass on the message to the 2nd, 3rd and even the 4th generation

In order to fulfill this need, we developed the Simon Wiesenthal Digital Holocaust Education Platform which enables people to:
• light digital candles for people who were murdered in the Holocaust
• write a short biography, including if available a picture
• express their feelings in drawings and in writing
• discuss moral questions of forgiveness, remembrance, and tolerance

Our first event took place on the 2021 International Holocaust Memorial Day in cooperation with the Istituto Comprensivo Cariati in the Calabria region of Southern Italy. Here is what one of the children said: “I feel pain and anger while reading and hearing about the murder of Jewish Italian children during the Holocaust” and I ask myself “what can I do with it?” And so, the purpose is to enable a child not only to confront these feelings but also to become active. Being able to do something, getting personally involved and spreading the message among others that the Holocaust should never happen again is the aim of this educational activity.

GENEALOGY RESEARCH SERVICES

Over the last 20 years, I gained extensive experience in genealogy research and provided individuals and organizations with professional genealogy services, such as construction of numerous family trees, providing information which led to the renewal of family connections and family unification. I use professional genealogy software and databases as well as cooperate with genealogists and experts worldwide.

These genealogy skills were also instrumental in the development of the Simon Wiesenthal Genealogy Geolocation Initiative (SWIGGI) as well in the extensive search for the 89 family members of Simon Wiesenthal, my late grandfather. Family members murdered during the Shoah are commemorated on the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Memorial.

SIMON WIESENTHAL GENEALOGY GEOLOCATION INITIATIVE (SWIGGI)