This article on nbcnews.com is pretty remarkable. It is well known that during WWII, the Nazi regime seized the belongings  including property, of the citizens it deemed undesirable. For decades it was all thought to be lost, however detailed records were, surprisingly, maintained over all this time. In one of the examples given in the article, it was compensation for the property as opposed to the property itself.

Now, using database technology that is available to everyone, records are being matched up with the properties’ original owners and being returned, if not to them to their heirs.

It is carried out using standard family-tree making software. My mother took a class recently on genealogy  and students used Ancestry.com to trace their lineage. She made many discoveries and found many documents shedding light on many aspects of her history she didn’t know, and she already knew a lot. My father’s side of the family fled Romania, leaving behind an oil field in the process, to avoid the advancement of the Axis powers in the area. Now, using databases of information along with the ability of this genealogy software to trace family lines, more seized property is being returned o its rightful place after decades of being lost.

I need to make one minor clarification, however – the linked article claims ‘social media’ is helping the cause, but email and data mining are not actually social media. It’s standard communications media that we have always used.