Awards – Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County

Partnership with IGJGS

Phyllis Kramer, Z”L, board member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. (JGSPBC), and Vice President for Education JewishGen, is the recipient of a prestigious International Award, presented at the International Association of Jewish Genealogist Societies (IAJGS), 2011 Conference held in August in Washington, DC. The awards were announced on August 18 at the IAJGS Conference Gala.

Phyllis received the award, “Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy via the Internet, Print, or Electronic Product”, for her role with the JewishGen Learning Center, a division of JewishGen, the premier website for Jewish genealogical research. Under Kramer’s tutelage, the JewishGen Learning Center developed six online interactive courses to help researchers organize their information and begin to trace their ancestral roots. Ms. Kramer has reached over 1,400 researchers in the first five years through a comprehensive educational curriculum addressing all levels of experience.

Outstanding Programming

Sylvnia Nusinov (left) with the 2001 Award Plaque and Jacqueline Fineblit with the Presentation Book.

The Outstanding Programming Award was presented to the Jewish Genealogical Society Palm Beach County, Inc by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in recognition of its efforts to spread awareness of Jewish genealogy through its extensive local publicizing of Jewish Genealogy Month, 25 March to 23 April 2001. This included arranging for the publication of articles in various newspapers across Palm Beach County, sponsoring a lecture series, distributing posters, and conducting exhibits at local libraries.

Outstanding Publication Achievement

The 2003 IAJGS Award for Outstanding Publication by an IAJGS Member Society was presented to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County in recognition of their Beginners and Intermediate Genealogical Workbook (now entitled Genealogy Workbook – Sources for Research of Your Ancestry), a compilation of genealogical resource materials, compiled and edited by Sylvia Furshman Nusinov.

Past Presidents Sylvia Furshman Nusinov and Dr. Marvin Hamburg display the IAJGS Award. In November 2006 JGSPBC’S Workbook earned an additional award from the Florida State Genealogical Society.

At the 30th annual conference, November 2006 Mrs. Nusinov was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence. Revised and updated annually, the workbook now covers 44 topics including articles by renowned genealogists, instructions, forms, charts, and references. It is an invaluable tool for researchers and is utilized by genealogical societies throughout the world.

Special Achievement

Donald Hirschhorn, JGSPBC’S Names Recovery Campaign Coordinator for Palm Beach County and South Florida, received a Special Achievement Award for assisting Yad Vashem in the Shoah Victims’ Names Recovery Project at the 2007 Annual Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

In presenting the award, Alexander Avraham, Director, Hall of Names, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem stated, “On behalf of Yad Vashem I would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt appreciation to Donald Hirschhorn for his activism, dedication and outstanding volunteerism as coordinator for the Shoah Victims Names Recovery Project.

Donald’s tireless efforts to attempt to memorialize each individual Jew who perished during the Holocaust have served as a model for us all. I would also like to extend our thanks to the JGS of Palm Beach County for lending its support to the campaign in many ways, including financial support.”

“Hirschhorn,” Avraham added, “has been instrumental in recruiting a number of Jewish Genealogical Societies who have registered with Yad Vashem and has been in contact with many other Jewish Genealogical Societies to enlist their support of the project.

“In addition, he has established partnering relationships with Jewish community and survivor organizations throughout the U.S., including NaAmat, B’nai B’rith, Hadassah, ORT, and Brandeis. He has also developed a volunteer corps in South Florida to assist survivors in submitting Pages of Testimony.”

Don has personally coordinated the submission of close to 1,000 Pages of Testimony, but many additional pages have been submitted as a result of his efforts either through the American Society for Yad Vashem, to Israel directly, or via the Internet.

Second Award from Yad Vashem

JGSPBC takes pride that Yad Vashem has again recognized the importance of our Yad Vashem project with a second award.

On April 2, 2008, Cynthia Wrocklawski, Outreach Manager for the Shoah Names Victims’ Recovery Project at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, personally presented the award to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County Inc. for our role in the Names Recovery Campaign.

The award presentation was held at a reception for Cynthia at the home of JGSPBC Past-President Sandra Hirschhorn, Boca Raton. Present were JGSPBC Board Members and the society’s Yad Vashem Volunteers and Partners.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County Inc. is acutely aware of the need to gather and preserve the history and genealogical records of the six million who perished in the Holocaust. It, has volunteered its services to Yad Vashem, and is now playing a significant role in aiding the Shoah Victims’ Names Recovery Project.

To date, more than 1000 Pages of Testimony have been submitted to Yad Vashem in Israel through the efforts of our Society. As our corps of volunteers expands, more Pages of Testimony will be available for generations to come and family history will be preserved.