Szlojme Mayer, Der Untergang fun Zloczów, title page, Munich, 1947

Memorial books can be traced far back into Jewish history. The tradition of commemorating the destruction of Jewish communities in writing dates back to the 14th century. The Shoah saw hundreds more published, beginning in 1943. They are also known as Memorbücher or, from the Yiddish word for memory, yizker-bikher. (Marie Schumacher-Brunhes, Lille)

Szlojme Mayer: Der Untergang fun Zloczów, Munich 1947, scan: anonymous; source: © YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York / The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.