Grant for digitization project Jewish Council Archives in Europe

A consortium of seven European archive and research institutes including Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives received a grant from the Claims Conference for the two-year digitization project Jewish Council Archives in Europe. The project brings important – and in some cases still unexploited – archival collections on Jewish Councils and Associations from Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Israel and Netherland together. This project will be carried out in close cooperation with the EHRI-project.


Jewish Councils
During the Second World War, Jewish Councils or Associations were established throughout Europe. They functioned as representative bodies for local, regional and national Jewish communities and, as such, were sometimes closely involved by the German occupier in the execution of the extermination policy of the Nazis.
The Jewish Council Archives is one of the most important sources of information about the Jewish community life during the Second World War and contain valuable information about the day-to-day proceedings of the Holocaust.

Online publications
The project Jewish Council Archives in Europe not only conserves and digitizes the collections, but also improves accessibility of the collections and prepares them for online publications. By opening up these collections within local systems and through dedicated portals such as EHRI and Yerusha, new and more advanced research on the functioning of Jewish Councils in Europe will be facilitated.

Eastern and Central Europe
The project includes some relatively unexploited, important archives from Eastern and Central Europe. The Nazi persecution was a European-wide phenomenon. By including collections from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic the project Jewish Council Archives in Europe aims to stimulate research into the Holocaust in Eastern and Central Europe.

Partners
The project consortium consists of seven partners from seven different countries: Hungarian Jewish Archives, Jewish Historical Institute (Poland), Jewish Museum in Prague (Czech Republic), Kazerne Dossin (Belgium), National Archives of Finland, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and  Genocide Studies (Netherlands) and Yad Vashem (Israel). NIOD will act as coordinator.

The project Jewish Council Archives in Europe starts in July 2015 and will be completed in July 2017.

Information about the  funding organisation:

In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, the Claims Conference enables organizations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.