Zvi Bernhardt is the Deputy Director of the Hall of Names Department and Deputy Director of the Reference and Information Department, Archives Division in Yad Vashem. I also serve as Yad Vashem`s liaison to JewishGen. I have presented in previous IAJGS conferences, as well as extensively at Yad Vashem and at other genealogy forums.

“Open Access – Ethical Questions” (Thurs-124), 1:30 – 2:45 P.M.

Yad Vashem aims to give open access to as many resources as possible. As part of this policy, we have many online databases. Chief among them, the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names. We also answer numerous on-site and remote queries about our resources. This has raised many ethical questions.

• Is putting information online about Jews who were murdered as mentally ill honoring their memory, or tarnishing it?
• How do we balance the right to privacy with peoples urge to find information on living family members easily?
• How do we answer a query where the answer might distress the enquirer, for instance, by showing that there parents actively avoided them post-war?

Topics: Ethical considerations in genealogy, Holocaust research, Technology in support of genealogical research