Dear Friend,

Welcome to The Wiener Holocaust Library's e-newsletter for April 2021.

We are delighted to announce that the Library will be partially reopening from Monday 12 April. Please see below for further details and information on pre-booking.

This month we are pleased to announce the launch of the Library's online shop; news from our Death Marches: Evidence and Memory exhibition; a special virtual event to commemorate the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi of Rwanda; new content on the Library's online educational resource The Holocaust Explained; and a chance to catch up on virtual talks and register for upcoming events.

We know this is a difficult time for everyone, and we continue to send our very best wishes to you all.

Kind regards,

The Wiener Holocaust Library

The Library’s new exhibition will uncover how forensic and other evidence about the death marches has been gathered since the end of the Holocaust. It chronicles how researchers and others attempted to recover the death march routes – and those who did not survive them. Efforts to analyse and commemorate the death marches continue to this day.

Towards the end of the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of prisoners still held within the Nazi camp system were forcibly evacuated in terrible conditions under heavy guard. Prisoners were sent out on foot, by rail, in horse-drawn wagons, in lorries and by ship. Conveys split, dispersed and rejoined others, with routes stretching from several dozen to hundreds of miles long. Thousands of people were murdered en route in the last days before the war’s end, although it is impossible to know the exact numbers.

Many of these chaotic and brutal evacuations became known as ‘death marches’ by those who endured them. They form the last chapter of the Nazi genocide.

You can now explore over sixty eyewitness accounts of those who experienced and survived the Nazi death marches on the Library’s new digital resource, Testifying to the Truth.

For a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition, watch the video below which features co-curators Dr Christine Schmidt (The Wiener Holocaust Library) and Professor Dan Stone (Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London).

The Wiener Holocaust Library is pleased to host a virtual panel discussion in collaboration with the Ishami Foundation to remember the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

April 7 2021 marks the 27^th anniversary of the start of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. This year, Rwanda has repeatedly made the headlines with coverage of the arrest and subsequent trial of Paul Rusesabagina. This former rescuer faces multiple charges, including financing terrorism and forming terrorist groups. But much media coverage until recently has focussed on his role in the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, a role survivors have critiqued as simplified and inaccurate.

This commemoration period, this Kwibuka 27, questions about how genocide is remembered are at the forefront of conversations. Our panel members offer their own personal and professional reflections on: the importance of survivor voices and personal testimony (Omar Ndizeye); the challenges of navigating media simplifications and the nuances of intergenerational memory (Alice Musabende); and the role of post-genocide justice in shaping identity and memory (Phil Clark). The panel will be chaired by Zoe Norridge (Ishami Foundation Chair) and there will be time for questions and discussion at the end.

Flame of remembrance lit to mark the beginning of the 100-day commemoration period for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Guest blog by Charles Fox

The significance of the date 17 April 1975 – the day that Phnom Penh was taken over by the Khmer Rouge – to Cambodian communities globally cannot be underestimated. Despite the passing of almost half a century, the impact of the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge has left deep scars on the country and the diaspora. After the coup in 1970, and the subsequent five-year civil war between the communist Khmer Rouge and the forces of the nationalist Lon Nol government, the Khmer Rouge attempted to purge the country of corruption and the bourgeoisie. They evacuated cities, banned possessions and sent the entire population to work the land. What started the day Phnom Penh fell to the communists was fuelled by years of a rural and urban divide, United States carpet bombing, and Khmer Rouge propaganda.

Many accounts of that fateful day in 1975 see us drawn up the wide Monivong Boulevard of Phnom Penh towards the French embassy as young Khmer Rouge cadres entered the capital. If we were to be whisked away north to the second-largest city in Cambodia, Battambang, the same scenes played out but at a different pace. “We did not evacuate immediately, they ordered the residents to provide food to 10 Khmer Rouge soldiers each, we set up a table out front of the house and we feed them” recalls Vira Rama, then a child. Days later the false threat of American bombing and the order to evacuate forced Vira and his family into the provinces, to the start of what has come to be understood as one of the most murderous regimes the world has seen. Almost immediately stories started to circulate of the killing of those aligned with Lon Nol.

Fast forward to 2015, I received an email from Vira that would begin a series of exchanges which became the basis of a collaboration and friendship which lasts to this day. I was working in Cambodia at the time, and Vira had read an article in the Phnom Penh Post about my work with archival images. Vira shared his family images from before and after the Khmer Rouge. Over several years, Vira and I talked about these images; what they meant and what they represented, and this dialogue resulted in Buried, published in 2019. The book was well-received, resulting in talks at The Photographers’ Gallery and The Wiener Holocaust Library in London. Eighteen months since the publication of Buried, Vira and I continue our friendship and dialogue, which I am very grateful for. His generosity of time and candour have never faltered.

Forty-six years since the fall of Phnom Penh the importance of the Rama family images and their stories reflect the experiences of so many, one which still holds significance in the multitude of failings of the international community before, during and after the Khmer Rouge. These discussions are as relevant today as they were then.

Roma and Sinti were persecuted before, during and after the Third Reich. While an understanding of the persecution has begun to develop in recent years, with events such as the Library’s 2019 exhibition, Forgotten Victims: The Nazi Genocide of Roma and Sinti, the Roma genocide under the Nazis is often overlooked. Significant misconceptions about how, why and where Roma and Sinti were persecuted remain.

As such, we are pleased to have published two new articles on this important subject. The first article focuses on the distortion of the genocide in the aftermath of the Second World War, and how survivors and victims had to fight for recognition. The second considers how Roma commemorate and remember the genocide, and how this topic has been historically misrepresented.

We are pleased to announce that the Jews of Konin collection of interviews is now live and will be available to access in the Wolfson Reading Room once the Library has re-opened

This collection comprises a set of recorded conversations of former Jewish inhabitants of Konin, Poland. The conversations with sixty-four individuals were recorded in five countries across three continents during 1987-1988. The describe life in Konin from c. 1900-1946 and cover such themes as religious practice and belief; Polish-Jewish relations, work and recreation; political affiliations; Nazi persecution and post-war life.

These interviews form the raw material for Theo Richmond’s acclaimed book, Konin: A Quest. If you would like to find out more about this collection visit our website to read the Library’s Senior Archivist’s recent blog Konin: Shtetl or Shtot?

A map of Konin. Taken from Konin: A Quest (Pantheon, 1995).

By the end of the Second World, millions of people had been murdered or displaced by war and genocide. Families and communities were torn apart. Many were missing, and some people’s fates remain unclear to this day. 

On Monday 12 April, the Library's Deputy Director and Head of Research, Dr Christine Schmidt, along with co-curator, Professor Dan Stone, will virtually guide through this remarkable and little known story of the agonising search for the missing after the Holocaust.

Becoming a member is a powerful way you can support us in working towards our wider mission. In return, you can enjoy our exclusive member benefits and know that you are playing a significant role in the future success of the Library.