This day in 1974 marks the death of Oskar Schindler, who was honored with a tree planting in 1967 at the Yad Vashem memorial as a Righteous Among The Nations, an honor bestowed by Israel to non-Jews who worked to save Jewish lives during the Shoah at great personal risk. At last count, about a year ago, nearly 20,000 people have been given such an honor. Schindler was the only former Nazi party member to ever receive such a recognition at Yad Vashem. Um, duh.

Yad Vashem: Some righteous trees for some righteous folks.

Yad Vashem is an extremely worthwhile organization to support with significant genealogical research and memorial work being done, especially their searchable database. Really, if you have not ever, do take a moment and click through and search your surname, and other surnames in your family. Stunning. Chilling.

Yad Vashem, in addition to collecting donated personal artifacts and written and video testimony, has been working to develop The Lexicon of the Righteous Among The Nations, an encyclopedia to eventually include biographical stories of all persons deignated Righteous as well as Yad Vashem magazine. Also, Yad Vashem offers the International Institute for Holocaust Research, which often has an open call for papers to be presented at various conferences within the facility, and information on ongoing research projects.

So, until you find yourself in Israel next to pay a visit to Yad Vashem for yourself (if you have not already), stay in touch and check their on-line exhibitions page often for updates. And lastly, be sure to stop by the American and Canadian chapters of the Yad Vashem Society (or just about any country you happen to be living) to stay up-to-date on events and projects.

A Very Abridged List of Further Exploration: Yad Vashem: Moshe Safdie: The Architecture of Memory, The Children We Remember: Photographs from the Archives of Yad Vashem by Chana Byers Abells, Where Light and Shadows Meet: A Memoir by Schindler, Rosenberg & Koch, I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree: A Memior of a Schindler's List Survivor by Laura Hillman, and A Voice In The Chorus: Memories of a Teenager Saved By Schindler by Abraham Zuckerman.