Dear Friend,

Welcome to The Wiener Holocaust Library's e-newsletter for January 2022. We would like to wish you a very Happy New Year!

The Library is now open Monday - Friday, 10am - 5pm. Visitors will no longer need to pre-book to visit the Reading Room or exhibitions. Please see below for further details.

In this edition of the Library's newsletter, we are pleased to share with you our 2020/2021 Annual Review and Strategic Plan 2021-2025; the Library's Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 hybrid event; a video from the This Fascist Life curators; and new educational resources. You can also catch up on virtual talks and register for upcoming events.

Kind regards,

The Wiener Holocaust Library

Want to learn more about what we have been up to this past year?

Why not check out the Library's Annual Review to explore our 2020/2021 achievements.

You can find out about the Library's new innovative Refugee Map, past exhibitions, virtual events, partnerships and learn more about our significant collections, family research and educational outreach.

We have also recently published our Strategic Plan 2021 - 2025 which articulates the Library’s goals for the next four years and highlights the ways in which we will achieve these goals.

Jewish deportees from the ‘Polenaktion’ in a makeshift camp in Polish-German border town Zbąszyń (Bentschen), November 1938. Wiener Holocaust Library Collections.

Join The Wiener Holocaust Library to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 with the Mayor of Camden Sabrina Francis and Dr Christoph Kreutzmüller, Wednesday 26 January, 6.30-7.30pm.

This years’ hybrid event will focus on the experiences of victims of Nazi genocide on the day that they were deported to ghettos and camps and will include readings from the Library’s collection of eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust on this theme.

The event will also feature a talk by Dr Christoph Kreutzmüller exploring the significance of the contemporary photographs taken of deportations of Jews during the Holocaust.

With remarks by Dr Toby Simpson, Director of The Wiener Holocaust Library and readings by a Camden Youth MP.

We ask that audience members take a lateral flow test in the 24 hours before attending.

If you would like to join us virtually please register for a live stream ticket here.

Still not visited This Fascist Life: Radical Right Movements in Interwar Europe? Make sure you do before Friday 4 February to learn more about the motivations and experiences of those who joined interwar fascist movements across Europe.

In the meantime, why not check out this short video (below) with curators Dr Barbara Warnock, Dr Roland Clark and Professor Tim Grady who give a unique overview of the Library's latest exhibition.

The new Head of Collections will provide strategic vision in a role where digital technology, digitised archive materials, web and social media marketing and outreach and research activities are closely integrated with collections work.

The Library’s Head of Collections will need to support, sustain and shape the growth of the Library’s collections accordingly, both physical and digital.

The Head of Collections is responsible for the management, development and preservation of all collections at The Wiener Holocaust Library and making them accessible to readers. The objectives are to be reached within the framework of the Library’s management structure and strategic goals.

The deadline for all applications is Saturday 5 February, 5.30pm.

On Wednesday 17 November 2021, the Holocaust and Genocide Research Partnership, in co-operation with Gresham College and the Museum of London, hosted Professor Jan Grabowski (University of Ottawa) to deliver the Second Annual Alfred Wiener Holocaust Memorial Lecture.

In his lecture (full video below), Professor Grabowski outlined current governmental policies in Poland regarding the history and historiography of the Holocaust, which often distort the historical narrative to preserve Polish national pride and identity. He also discussed his own recent experiences of being taken to court over research conducted for the two-volume study Night Without End (Dalej jest noc), co-edited by Professor Grabowski and eight other scholars.

In his final book, The Fate of the Jews, 1933–49, the British historian David Cesarani lamented the ‘yawning gulf’ between popular understanding of the Holocaust and academic scholarship. This public event provides an opportunity to evaluate the continued relevance of Cesarani’s critique, as new initiatives are launched (the Imperial War Museum’s new Holocaust Galleries opened to the public in October 2021) and others undergo continued refinement (development of UK secondary school teaching on the Holocaust by UCL’s Institute of Education; plans for a UK Holocaust Memorial alongside Parliament).

Holocaust distortion is the greatest contemporary threat to the legacy of the Holocaust. It harms our democracies, normalizes antisemitism, and fuels extremism. But despite the danger it poses, Holocaust distortion is often overlooked and rarely leads to concrete action.

The IHRA Toolkit Against Holocaust Distortion is designed to help policy and decision-makers and civil society take steps towards recognizing and countering Holocaust distortion. It provides leaders with practical tools, guidance and example activities to empower them to be ambassadors for change – in their institutions, governments, and communities.

Arriving & Belonging: Stories from the St Albans Jewish community, a new in-person exhibition, will open at the St Albans Museum + Gallery from 4 February and run until 15 May. 

From over 100 stories gathered in previous projects by St Albans Masorti Synagogue (SAMS), 18 were selected to represent the universal themes of Sanctuary, Courage, Compassion, Setting Down Roots, Work and Community.

The exhibition includes moving and powerful stories of displacement and migration, including from Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon, and Sylvia Schloss, whose step-grandfather was Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank. Her uncle’s paintings were hidden under the floorboards in Amsterdam when the family were deported to Auschwitz and later found by Sylvia’s mother Eva.

There is a moving story from Evelyn Gold whose aunt Berta Aftergut appears at the top of Schindler’s List. You can also see my mother Hanna Cohn’s Kindertransport photograph and ID card.

The stories reflect the exhibition’s themes and key moments in Jewish history as illustrated in the exhibition timeline. The aim is that audiences will relate to the historic and geographic events through these personal stories.

“Children I promise you this. Everything you do leaves something behind: nothing gets lost. All the good that you have accomplished will continue in the lives of the people you have touched“. (Erich Geiringer, May 1940)

Those words spoken by Eva’s father, inspired her to tell her family’s Holocaust story, writing and travelling the world and, in particular, showcasing her brother, Heinz’s art and poetry. She continues to do so today at the age of 92.

Her grandson Eric, like a link in this chain, is now working with G2G to present his grandmother’s story.

Join us for our Holocaust Memorial Day event to hear Eric in conversation with his grandmother and consider the Holocaust Memorial Day theme “One Day”.

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.