Our Mission

The mission of the Holocaust Reunion Project is to harness the power of commercial DNA testing, combined with expert genealogical research, both to reunite Holocaust survivors and their children with living relatives and to illuminate the family history that has been lost to genocide.

The Holocaust devastated the Jewish community in countless lamentable ways. But its deepest cut was the literal rending of families: the loss of millions of irreplaceable parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins. And while numerous agencies and organizations support survivors and honor the legacy of the Shoah in myriad ways, there is surprisingly very little focus or energy put towards restoring what was actually taken: family.

Genealogical research, and specifically commercial DNA testing, can do precisely this. DNA can unlock mysteries and make crucial connections, often linking survivors to living relatives they did not know they had. DNA matches can also open the door to help survivors reconstruct their shattered trees and reclaim their lost history, often reconnecting lines of communication severed by the Holocaust.

It can be a priceless gift for a population ravaged by genocide.