#EVERYNAMECOUNTS
Anyone can take part and digitize names and biographical data. The aim is to create the most comprehensive online archive on Nazi persecutees. The documents come from German Nazi concentration camps and provide insights into how and why people were persecuted. The crowdsourcing projects was relaunched on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The #everynamecounts initiative offers a new and very direct way of actively engaging with the past – not only to remember the victims of Nazi persecution, but also to promote respect, diversity and solidarity. Future generations should be able to remember the names and identities of these victims. But the initiative is important to today’s society as well – because by looking back, we can see where discrimination, racism and antisemitism lead.
Get involved and take an active stand
No specialist knowledge is needed in order to take part. You can spend as much time on it as you like. All you need to participate in #everynamecounts is a computer with an internet connection. Thousands of volunteers are already helping out. They are guided through the archival documents on a crowdsourcing website which includes a practical help function.
They also show that the motives for persecution which existed during the Nazi period are still in existence today. "Every piece of information that is newly digitized is an expression of solidarity with the victims," emphasizes Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives. “Everyone who participates is sending out a signal in support of respect, diversity, and democracy.” German Minister of State for Culture and the Media Monika Grütters is patron of #everynamecounts; institutions including UNESCO, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and the UN are partners.
An evocative multi-media installation brought #everynamecounts into the public eye. The global artist collective Urbanscreen created the installation using documents from the Arolsen Archives. The facade of the French Embassy in Berlin was turned into a huge screen to commemorate the victims of Nazi persecution. The projection was on show from January 21 to 27.
International cooperation with a growing number of volunteers
The Arolsen Archives launched #everynamecounts as a pilot project in 2020. To reach even more people worldwide, three languages have now been added: In addition to English and German, the project is now also available in Spanish, Polish, and French. Another new feature is a digital guide that makes it easier to get started with #everynamecounts and is also suitable for use in the context of school projects.
Together with volunteers from all over the world, the Arolsen Archives are building the largest digital memorial to the victims of Nazism.
Arolsen Archives