The texts on Dutch Jewish tombstones dating from before 1940 will soon be published on the Internet, in a searchable database created by the country’s Orthodox Jewish community. All Jewish tombstones are currently being photographed and the original Hebrew will be put alongside the translated text into an electronic database that will have a special search tools.

The initiative comes from the Nederlands Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap (NIK), the umbrellla organisation of the Orthodox Jewish community. The NIK cooperates with the Israeli Akevot Foundation, which focuses on the history of the Dutch Jews.

The database will not only contain the information from the tombstones, but also as much as additional personal, genealogical and historical information as is available.

Upon completion, the database will be maintained by the NIK, while local Jewish communities will be responsible for the tombstones of their own cemeteries.

All local Jewish communities in Holland are autonomous legal bodies.

During WWII, many cemetery registers and books got lost so by building the database, the two parties involved in the project, the NIK and the Akevot Foundation, aim to fill the existing gaps.

Another reason is to enable the many Dutch Jews living abroad to pay a virtual ’visit’ to the graves of their beloved ones and ancestors.

(EJP/JTA)