The Oshpitzin Yizkor Database

This is a database of Jews from the town of Oshpitzin (Polish: Oświęcim [Oshvyentzim], German: Auschwitz).  The information has been compiled from Sefer Oshpitsin, the Oswiecim memorial book, and from other sources.  The database attempts to include all individuals who were either born in Oshpitzin and surrounding townlets, or lived there for a period between 1919 and 1941.  There are 5,511 entries.

Here is a description of the fields contained in this database:

• Family name + first name(s)
• Maiden surname
• Date of birth or Age
• Status:
  • HY'D = Holocaust victim   ("Hashem Yikom Damam" = "May G-d avenge their blood")
  • N'Y = Living at time of submission of memorial   ("Nero Ya'ir" = "May their light shine")
  • Z'L = Died before or after the war   ("Zichrono Livracha" = "of blessed memory")
  • P'V = Presumed victim
  • UND = Undetermined - possible duplicate
  • MZV = Matzeva - tombstone at the Oshpitzin cemetery
  • RHS = appears in Registry of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996)
• Father
• Mother + mother's maiden surname
• Spouse + spouse's maiden surname
• Sources:
  • HoN = Hall of Names - Yad Vashem Page of Testimony (when doubled, indicates two sources with additional or differing details)
  • Y568 = Mentioned in Sefer Oshpitsin Yizkor Book, on page 568.
  • SKL = Listed in Serge Klarsfeld's Deportations List - Le memorial de la deportation des Juifs de France.
  • JS = Added by Joseph Schachter from personal knowledge
  • SWD = Swedish Yizkor book by survivors - Gloem Oss Inte (Stockholm: Hillelforlaget, 1999)
  • TRZ = Theresienstadt Lists - Terezinska Pametni Kniha, (Praha, 1995).
  • OGS = Oorlogsgravenstichting - Dutch deportations lists
• Photograph - A photograph exists at Yad Vashem's Photo Archives.
  • A120, denotes 120th in Szrodula Ghetto list for the initial letter A.
    (Photos were taken in 1942-3 and signed by the victims)
• Remarks - Added information about individual or about family members. Not all were killed, nor were all from Oshpitzin.
• Reported by - There are often more sources, but only one is given here.
• Birthplace
• Residence pre 1939
• Lived - Where survivor or former Oshpitziner lived before or after the War.
• War Years - Only one of several possibilities. Most lived in Oshpitzin until expulsion to Szrodula or Chrzanow in 1941. By the end of 1943 the ghettoes were "liquidated".
• Death date
• Death details - KZ = Kazet = Concentration camp - forced labor

If you discover any errors in this database or have additional information or totally new entries please contact Rabbi Joseph Schachter.