Erasing Jewish Identity
The Nazis were not content with annihilating Eastern European Jewry and plundering all their possessions. They also erased any trace of Jewish existence throughout the generations. In Jewish cemeteries, all tombstones were uprooted. Synagogues and other community buildings became Nazi property. All records in Jewish community archives, including family lineages spanning dozens of generations, were destroyed. Even their civil records in state authority archives, such as the Interior Ministry and municipalities, were obliterated.
Stolen Heritage - The Denial of Citizenship
Today, many Israelis obtain a second passport from the European Union based on their country of origin. In Eastern European countries that were under Nazi occupation, this is impossible. Descendants of Holocaust survivors from Poland, many of whose families perished, cannot prove that their parents were born in that country and are rejected outright by the relevant authorities.
