Holocaust research toolkit - Hungary and beyond

Having engaged in researching my family's history in—mainly—Holocaust-era Hungary for a number of years, I have compiled a list of my go-to sources. These include numerous online and some offline databases and archives, many of relevance not only to Hungary but to (European) Jewry in general. Also added a few tip and tricks to some of them. Wishing a fruitful research to all!

Photo by Daniel Forsman on Unsplash

Arcanum Newspapers

Search: https://adt.arcanum.com/en/ 

Over 7,000 word-searchable periodicals, mostly from Greater Hungary, but not only. Paywalled, but you can search for free and see a snippet of the hits, so you may be able to determine whether they hold sources relevant to your reserach. Website in English and Hungarian.

Arolsen Archives

Search: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search

Inquiry form: https://arolsenarchives.my.site.com/guest/s/?language=en_US

Formerly International Tracing Service. Documents on camp inmates, victims, and DPs. Searchable by personal details, subject keywords, etc. Most documents available online.

💡*TIP*💡Not everything is accessible online, and not all documents are fully-word searchable, hence online search does not give complete results. Contact the archives, provide identifying information on the individual you are looking for, and they will collect everything available on said person and send it to you within a few months. Website in English and German.

Budapest City Archives on Hungaricana

1954 Budapest City elections voter lists: https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/collection/BFL_BPValasztoiNevjegyzek1954/

Provides name, DOB, and occupation. Very tedious to use. Lists are broken down by city districts, of which there were 22. If you know the district, you’d have to fish around the multiple voter districts within the city district to find the address you are looking for. Website in Hungarian.

Budapest University of Jewish Studies Library

Digital repository: https://diglib.or-zse.hu/xmlui/ 

Digitized books and periodicals, word search also searches in content. Includes Jewish and Zionist periodicals from the immediate postwar period. Website in English and Hungarian.

Center for Jewish History Archives

Search: https://archives.cjh.org/

A rich collection of materials related to Jewish history. Descriptions are word-searchable. Numerous documents, photographs, etc. are available online. Website in English.

💡*TIP*💡In case you are in need of materials held by YIVO (part of CJH), you can order a limited number of complimentary scans using this form, in case the materials are not available online: https://www.yivo.org/Remote-Research 

Centropa

Interview search: https://www.centropa.org/en/biographies

Photography search: https://www.centropa.org/en/photos

1,230 interviews and over 25,000 family photographs, searchable by various fields. Website in English, Hungarian, and German.

DEGOB (National Committee for Attending to Deportees)

Protocol search: http://degob.org/index.php?extsearch

List of names: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_pqrorIUZcJQCPxj57E9md5cQ8rEweai0lDt3pinmhs/edit?usp=sharing

The name list is essential, as protocols are anonymized. The protocols were recorded immediately after the Holocaust, are transcribed and word-searchable, and are also translated to English. You can also download a scanned copy of the original protocol (click “scanned image” in the top right-hand corner of the protocol page). Website in English and Hungarian.

Friends of Budapest Jewish Cemetery

Database: https://database.budapestjewishcemetery.com/

Database of graves in Budapest's largest Jewish Cemetery, the Kozma Street Cemetery.

Hírek az elhurcoltakról (News about the Deportees)

Downloadable by page: https://bhiweb.wordpress.com/about/hirek/

Five issues of this journal were published by DEGOB between July 5, 1945 and October 20, 1945. Mostly contains information on survivors still in the camps, in DP camps, or in hospitals. Also includes lists of survivors in Russia, Italy, and lists of those taken to Sweden for medical care. The journal is only downloadable by page. Table of contents is available in a Hungarian Word file downloadable from the website. Website in English and Hungarian.

Historical Archives of the State Security Services

Request form: https://lar.abtl.hu/ords/abtl/r/sb/home

Post-1948 documents, mainly relevant if the person is supposed to have been involved in some illegal activity, such as being a member of a Zionist organization, illegal emigration, etc. Fill out the request form and wait patiently, it may take months until they scour the files and get back to you. You can only order the file if you can prove that you are a direct descendant of the claimant. Website in Hungarian.

Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives

Collections: https://www.milev.hu/collections

Archive catalog: https://archives.milev.hu/

Various documents available online, such as materials of the Judenrat, the Pest Jewish Community, of Jewish aid organizations, etc. Catalog of archival holdings. Website in English and Hungarian.

Hungaricana

Search: https://www.hungaricana.hu/en/

Jewish collection: https://library.hungaricana.hu/en/collection/zsido_gyujtemenyek/

Partly word-searchable database aggregator of Hungarian archives and libraries. Website in English and Hungarian.

Infocenter: Israeli archives

Search: https://infocenters.co.il/

Ghetto Fighters House: https://infocenters.co.il/gfh/search.asp?lang=ENG 

Searches in dozens of Israeli archives. Searchable in Hebrew or English. Ghetto Fighters House tends to be most useful, searchable in English and descriptions also available in English. Search for keyword in description and download original source. Includes photos, periodicals, etc. Website in English and Hebrew.

Jewish Roots in Győr

Links: https://jewishgyor.org/en/useful-links/

Links to various sources on the history of Jews in Győr. Website in English and Hungarian.

Jewishgen

Website: https://www.jewishgen.org/

Jewish genealogy website, with town finder, Yizkor book translations, and much more.

JDC Archives

Archive search: https://archives.jdc.org/

Archives of the American Joint Distribution Committee. Documents, photographs, videos and audio recordings on survivors, DPs, émigrés. Item descriptions are word-searchable. Website in English.

Memorial Museum of the Hungarian Speaking Jewry

Search: https://www.tm-it.co.il/avodat-kfiya/show_item.asp?levelId=65072

Database of labor servicemen. Searchable by name, place of birth, and labor service unit number. Website in Hungarian and Hebrew.

Military History Institute and Museum

Search: https://iivh-katonahoseink.militaria.hu/kereses

Database of WWII victims of the Hungarian Army, includes labor servicemen. Website in Hungarian.

National Archives of Hungary: Holocaust compensation files

Contact: obuda.kutatas@mnl.gov.hu / okut@mnl.gov.hu

Order copies: https://mnl.gov.hu/angol/mnl/ol/services_and_guided_tours 

Ask via email if they hold compensation claims. Only applicable if the individual resided in Hungary in or after 1957. File reference is HU-MNL-OL-XIX-L-20-o. You can only order the file if you can prove that you are a direct descendant of the claimant. Website in English and Hungarian.

National Archives of Hungary: POWs in the USSR

Website: https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/gyujtemeny/szovjetunioba-elhurcoltak 

Various databases on POWs in the USSR, those who returned from Soviet captivity, etc. Searchable by various data points. Also searchable in Cyrillic (Russian). Includes labor servicemen. Website in Hungarian.

National Library of Israel: Jewish Historical Press

Search: https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/search 

Word-searchable Jewish periodicals from around the world, including a dozen Hungarian-language titles. Website in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.

National Library of Israel: Oral History Division of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Search: https://nli.org.il/en/search

Type “OHD” in search field, it will bring up oral history interviews. Nearly 6,000 are available online, either as recordings or as transcripts of recordings. Website in English and Hebrew.

New York Public Library-Yiddish Book Center Yizkor Book Collection

Search: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yizkor-books

Over 650 Yizkor books available online.

The Archive of the Szeged Jewish Community

Website: https://szegedjewisharchive.org/

Deportation lists, document collection. Website in English and Hungarian.

The Zionist Youth Resistance Movement, Hungary 1944

Website: https://machteret1944.org/en/ 

Website of the Foundation for the Research of Zionist Youth Movement in Hungary. Documents, bibliographies, stories about Zionist resistance, etc. Website in English, Hungarian, and Hebrew.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Person search: https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_advance_search.php

Collection search: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/

You can search for a person by various data points. Collection search include full-length survivor testimonies. Website in English.

💡*TIP*💡: Use the “All Fields” field to search for postwar address, if known. Put in only the name of the street. If the street name has multiple elements, try searching for only the first one(s), e.g., instead of Nagy Lajos király útja put in only Nagy Lajos. You might find relatives living together in the same building after the war.

USC Shoah Foundation: Visual History Archive

Search: https://vha.usc.edu/search

Video interviews recorded with survivors. Searchable by keywords, places, names, etc. Registration required, and the interviews are only accessible if you declare that you are a relative of the interviewee. Website in English.

United Nations Archives

Search: https://search.archives.un.org/

 Word-searchable, although OCR is not perfect. Includes information on DPs (UNRRA files). Website in English.

Verband Schweizerischer Jüdischer Fürsorgen (Alliance of Swiss Jewish Care Organizations)

Search for the person’s name through USHMM (for Hungarian names using the native name order, i.e., last name – first name): https://collections.ushmm.org/search

Request form: https://afz.ethz.ch/en/utils/contact.html 

Medical files of those taken to Switzerland for medical care. If you find the person in the USHMM search, you can fill out the request form and will be provided the file usually within one working day. Request form is in German.

Yad Vashem

Name search: https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names

Testimony search: https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/documents

Searchable by various fields. With name search, you can access data on victims and survivors, derived from various sources. Oftentimes, the original sources are also made available online. Numerous testimonies are also available in full, in some cases along with a transcript of the testimony. Website in English and Hebrew.

💡*TIP*💡If you find a record whose source is a Page of Testimony, click on the Submitter Name link, and you will see all the Pages of Testimony submitted by that individual. This way, you may be able to find additional related family members. Note that submitter names may show variations, especially if the submitter filled out Pages of Testimony at different times, and changed his or her name, spelled it differently, did not use a middle name in one case and did in the other, etc. Therefore, it is worth also searching for the submitter’s name using advanced search.

Yellow Star Houses

Map: https://www.yellowstarhouses.org/

Map of Holocaust-era Budapest with all the yellow star houses, ghetto limits, etc. indicated. Website in English and Hungarian.