Chairman Avner Shalev explained: "The Germans sought not only to destroy the Jews, but to obliterate any memory of them. One of Yad Vashem's central missions since its foundation, the recovery of each and every victim's name and personal story, has resulted in relentless efforts to restore the names and identities of as many of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices as possible. We will continue our efforts to recover the unknown names, and by harnessing technology in the service of memory, we are able to share their names with the world."
During the last five years, they have been able to increase the number of victims identified who were from Eastern European nations and Greece. Joshua Spurlock said that it is pleasing that progress is being made in some countries where it has been difficult, in the past, to find information.
A key aspect of the effort to identify those murdered by the Nazis are the Pages of Testimony, which are special forms filled out in memory of the victims by people who remember them. More than half of the names currently known are from these documents. The rest of the names have come from archival sources and postwar commemoration projects.
Spurlock also noted that Yad Vashem has also enabled people around the world to find the names of the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah in Hebrew) online. The entire Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names is available on www.yadvashem.org in three different languages: English, Hebrew and Russian.
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson said that, having been to Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Israel, as well as to Auschwitz and other former Nazi concentration camps in Poland, he understands how this recently-released information can provide insight to the irrecoverable loss.
"We cannot go back in time and re-set historical decisions and outcomes; we cannot bring these families' loved ones back again and those young people like the famous Anne Frank will never be able to have families of their own," he said.
He concluded that the efforts of organisations like Yad Vashem show how a free press and freedom of speech become even more precious. Not only will the memories of those lost be now saved, but we will all become a little more aware of the enormity of the horror; of how things can go terribly wrong in a secretive society.