Nonprofit Launches Project to Archive 100 Holocaust Stories
The We Must Not Forget project aims to preserve personal life histories through English-language book publications.
Updated on Oct. 29, 2026 in Judaism
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The nonprofit organization Root Source has launched the We Must Not Forget project to record and publish the life stories of 100 Holocaust survivors. This initiative translates and documents these narratives to ensure they are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters
The project serves to document personal histories before they become inaccessible due to the passing of survivors. By sponsoring individual books, the organization seeks to build a permanent library collection of these testimonies.
The project aims to publish 100 survivor stories, with 20 currently in development. Each book requires $7,000 in funding to produce.
The players
Root Source
This is a nonprofit organization that offers recorded lessons and has a newsletter subscriber base of 50,000 people.
Gidon Ariel
He is the founder of the nonprofit organization Root Source.
Rabbi Eliyahu Dermer
He was a Holocaust survivor whose life story was featured in the inaugural book of the We Must Not Forget project.
The details
Root Source identifies existing manuscripts or survivors to document their experiences for professional English publication. They enlist support from schools, synagogues, and churches to cover the production costs for these stories.
Timeline
Root Source was founded in 2011 by Gidon Ariel.
Rabbi Eliyahu Dermer, the subject of the project's first book, died in 2025.
The inaugural book, Through Faith and Fire, was published in 2025.
Culture Shift
This initiative follows the documentation standards established by the Yad Vashem Holocaust documentation archives. It marks a shift toward decentralized, grassroots efforts to ensure personal narratives are preserved alongside larger historical records.
Interested individuals and organizations can participate by sponsoring the $7,000 production cost for a survivor's story. This allows schools and local libraries to directly contribute to the creation and eventual global distribution of these historical texts.
The takeaway
Preserving personal history requires active participation from community groups and sponsors to ensure these stories reach a global audience. Readers can support the project by engaging with their local religious or educational institutions to fund upcoming volumes.
Further reading
Learn more about community efforts in Judaism.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Israel Hayom English.
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