YIVO Mourns the Passing of Estelle M. Guzik, z"l

YIVO mourns the death of Estelle M. Guzik who passed away on December 18, 2024. Her career as a senior official in the U.S. Department of Housing and as a volunteer working in Jewish genealogy since the 1970s left an indelible mark on the field of Jewish genealogical research. Her many contributions included serving as President of the Jewish Genealogical Society from 1996 to 2001, volunteering at the Genealogy Institute of the Center for Jewish History and at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

At YIVO, Ms. Guzik supervised a team of ten volunteers in creating a searchable database of approximately 200,000 case history files from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Her discovery of Otto Frank’s unsuccessful emigration attempt in the HIAS archives garnered international media attention and was the basis of the 2015 documentary film, No Asylum.

While at YIVO, Ms. Guzik was also responsible for microfilming and indexing thousands of records pertaining to the Jewish population of Minsk which are now accessible online through the Jewish Belarus database.

Ms. Guzik was a beloved member of the YIVO community; her work has significantly advanced the field of Jewish genealogy, providing invaluable resources for researchers, and preserving crucial historical records for future generations. She will be deeply missed.