WJRO’s #MyPropertyStory campaign encourages Holocaust survivors and their families to share their personal stories. The campaign raises awareness of the need to address the restitution of Jewish private and communal property seized during the Holocaust and its aftermath.
We are excited to announce the launch of the fifth annual #MyPropertyStory campaign, “Cherished Possessions,” beginning on Yom HaShoah, April 24, 2025, and running through May 22, 2025. This year’s campaign highlights personal belongings—family artwork, heirlooms, Judaica, and everyday objects—that were stolen or lost during the Holocaust, emphasizing their deep emotional and historical significance.
We invite you to share your story and be part of this meaningful initiative. Please click the “Add Your Story” button to submit your experience and contribute to the campaign.
Behind your family’s home, business, and keepsake, there is a story.
What connects you to your family history?
View of the entrance to a Jewish owned business in Zagreb, Croatia belonging to Vilim Weiss (circa 1941). Credit: @USHMM, courtesy of Marta Kupfermann Elkana
We – the Jews – still go on!
Members from a shul in San Diego, California find their Polish roots to connect to their history in Poland. During the trip, their Polish guide finds the farm where an orthodox Jew, Chaim Yitzchok Wolgelernter, was in hiding during the Holocaust.
The miracle of the Lodz silver may be my family’s miracle
In January 2023, 400 Jewish silver artifacts were unexpectedly dug up in Lodz, and they maybe my family’s silver
Romania refuses to compensate; mysterious disappearance of required Title documents
Municipality of Bucharest enriches its coffers. Promises made by Romania are not upheld. Injustice permanent.
Multicultural Group Cleans Up Cemetery in Markuszów, Poland
Dan Oren, M.D., head of Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FJHP), and Steven D. Reece, Ph.D., a Baptist minister, head of the Matzevah Foundation, speak about their trip this past summer to Markuszów, Poland bringing together Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers cleaning up and dedicating Dan’s family’s ancestral cemetery.
Latvian Unicorn from Diaspora New Jersey
The unique history of Latvian survivors and their son who lived an improbable life.
From Osijek to Jerusalem
The story from my father (1932) and Jewish Family
Family Killed, Property Taken
Submitted by: Ivan Fultyn My...
On the land of 28 Szeroka
After the deportation of the Lublin Jews in 1942 to the Belzec and Majdanek death camps, the Nazis ordered Jews from the Majdanek camp to demolish the area of the Jewish Quarter to the ground, thereby ending centuries of Jewish culture and society. It was rebuilt anew after the war with nothing remaining in remembrance to this piece of Jewish history
Protecting & Preserving Jewish Heritage in Poland
Piotr Puchta, Director of the Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) speaks about the coming together of different entities, from local authorities to spiritual leaders – both Jewish and non-Jewish – getting involved with projects to protect and preserve Jewish Heritage in Poland. He speaks about the work that has been done and the extensive work that remains.