The DNA Shoah Project
Founders
Howard Cash Dr. Michael Hammer Syd Mandelbaum
Advisory Board
Dr. James Watson Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Muratore
DNA Shoah Project Coordinator
Erika Noebel Lynn Davis
Board
Jeanette Friedman Bari Mandelbaum Rabbi Joseph Potasnik Marsha Shapiro
Israeli Liaison Dr. Tamar Erez
Counsel Weil, Gotshal and Manges
PRESS RELEASE
Don’t rebury the bones: Holocaust victim remains can be identified through genetic technology
Over 3,000 remains of Jewish victims of the Holocaust were recently uncovered near Odessa, Ukraine. With the start of the DNA Shoah Project, there is now the possibility that these remains can be identified through the latest genetic and information technology. The DNA Shoah Project is now establishing a DNA database of surviving family members who are related to the dead and missing. The purpose of this database is to match genetic profiles of the living with those determined from bones in burial sites when such remains are accidentally uncovered in Europe. Co-Founders Dr. Michael Hammer, Syd Mandelbaum and Howard Cash see the Project as a trans-generational, international effort to give solace to families of the dead, and to re-unite orphaned relatives. Through the use of DNA technology and matching software that was designed to assist the NY Medical Examiners Office to identify 9/11 victims, there is now a system in place to match the remains of victims to surviving relatives 65 years after the Holocaust. “We can record the DNA of those who were killed, as we expand our international DNA collection in Europe and the Ukraine, closure can occur” says Syd Mandelbaum, a scientist and child of 2 Holocaust Survivors. “Dignity can be re-instated”, says Dr. Michael Hammer. “Each one of these unfortunate victims had a life an, identity, a soul. They are not just 3,000 remains to us, they are 3,000 people who were loved.” The Project was launched in Helsinki, Finland one year ago and has grown to over 500 in 4 months of collection. More information about the project can be accessed online at www.dnashoah.org.
Corporate Office 405 Oceanpoint Avenue, Cedarhurst NY 11516 (516) 295 –0670/ Fax: 295-3848 URL: www.dnashoah.info We have appled for 501 C 3 to become a organization EIN 03-0604022 NYS Tax Exempt EX Pending