Naperville, IL – Teen Launches Web Site To Name Each Of The 6 Million Killed By The Nazis

    22

    Naperville, IL – Zak Kolar hails from a fortunate Jewish family of four whose ancestors never confronted the horrors of the Holocaust. But the Naperville teenager also is among the last generation to encounter World War II’s witnesses as neighbors rather than statistics.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Seeking to ensure the Jewish people don’t forget each of the 6 million lives lost, Zak, 14, has launched a Web site and database dedicated to those who perished during the Holocaust. He hopes the online roster of names and death dates will enable members of the Jewish community to select and pray for a martyr on the anniversary of his or her death, as prescribed by Jewish tradition for families and their forebears.

    Although electronic databases, memorial walls and literature have etched the names of many Holocaust victims into hearts and minds, Zak’s initiative is one of the first organized efforts to inscribe victims’ names into blessed memory, especially when in many cases there was no one left behind to carry out the sacred task of reciting kaddish, the Jewish mourner’s prayer.

    While Jews around the world will gather at sundown on Saturday to observe Yom HaShoah by praying for the 6 million Jewish dead all at once, Zak has spent the last few months marking the death anniversary, or yahrzeit, of the 6,272 names he has collected so far, reciting the kaddish, or mourner’s prayer, and murmuring each name to himself. Though his list is a minute percentage of the more than 6 million murdered, it is already enough to observe a death anniversary every day of the year.

    “It doesn’t seem right. We say a prayer, but each one is only getting one-six-millionth of it,” said Zak, the young webmaster of http://www.eachofushasaname.org. “It gives more dignity and honor to be remembered as an individual person.”

    You can read the full story at Chicago Tribune


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    22 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    I wish him all the best and I’m sure he has the right intentions. However, this might be a bad idea for several reasons.
    First, since it’s highly unlikely that he will get anywhere near six million (for many unfortunate reasons), the deniers will say “See, the reports were all exaggerated!”
    Second, and related to the first, there will likely be repetitions and errors as the database grows. The low-life deniers who have nothing better to do will find these errors and point them out as glaring ‘proofs’ to their worldviews.

    Asher Buchwalter
    Asher Buchwalter
    13 years ago

    Yashar koach and truly a chesed

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Yad Vashem already has “The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names.”

    As far as dates of death, I think this information is only available for a minority of those murdered in the Shoah.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    He will most likely get 600 not 6 million. Sorry kid.

    LIBERALISM IS A DISEASE!!!
    LIBERALISM IS A DISEASE!!!
    13 years ago

    The road to H**l is paved with good intentions. This is a ‘feel good’ story to make a person feel good. There can be no good that comes from it as per #1 above.

    Besides, his argument about people getting 1/6000000 of the prayer doesn’t work with Yiddishkeit. When we say Av HaRachamim or even the tfila by yizkor for all the relatives, does each person get only a fraction of the z’chus??? NO WAY!!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    This is true chessed shel emes – yasher koach. Regardless of how many names he collects, each name is one more person who will now have someone to say kaddish for him/her on his/her yartzheit.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    “It doesn’t seem right. We say a prayer, but each one is only getting one-six-millionth of it,”

    While his intentions seem genuine and yasherous his statement is troubling.

    We have allways mourned for Jewish mytars as a nation Just as we accepted the Torah K’Ish Echad B’Lev Echad.

    Av Harachamim is a collective teffilah for all who have died with the ultimate sacrafice al Kiddush Hashem.
    The face of the Jewish nation is as a whole and not defined by single names and faces.

    To say “but each one is only getting one-six-millionth of it,” Is completly ridiculous our holy teffilos of rememberance are K’Ish Echad B’Lev Echad.
    The wrath of Hashem

    Ve’nikeysi damam lo nikeysi
    va’Hashem shochen betzion

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    The problem is how can he say that he “hails from a fortunate Jewish family of four whose ancestors never confronted the horrors of the Holocaust”. The Jewish people ARE our Ancestors…Moshe Rebbenu …and all the rest. We should separate ourselves

    My2Cents
    My2Cents
    13 years ago

    He should absolutely not stop. The deniers will deny regrdless of what anyone says or proves. Are you all saying we should just forget about it because people will try to prove it false??????
    I wish him lots of luck, and regardless if he gets 600 or 6000000 names it will still be another database of names that should never be forgotten.

    Calculator
    Calculator
    13 years ago

    Only about 3,000,000 actual names are known. The rest are the result of various ‘cheshbonos’.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    There seems to be some concern about how a “denier” would react to this.

    It makes me wonder which site a denier would prefer…one that lists the names of people against which she or he can attempt to build an argument that the Holocaust was an exaggeration or one that argues that such a list (and the record of the people on it) shouldn’t exist in the first place.

    It just seems ironic than in an attempt to thwart their goals we might, in fact, be helping to achieve them.