Drawing by a child survivor of genocide in Sudan, Wiener Holocaust Library Collections One year ago today, fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. This was only the latest escalation in a bloody conflict that has caused, by a considerable margin, the most urgent humanitarian and refugee crisis in the world today.  Within the last year eight million people have been driven from their homes, a situation made even more catastrophic because of the legacy of previous escalation in violence and ethnic cleansing, and a disastrous lack of aid.   The UN warns 5 million people wi ..read more

Eric W Taylor © the artist’s estate. Image credit: Redcar and Cleveland Council When British soldiers entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 79 years ago today, they were confronted with the horror that the Nazi retreat had left behind. Inside were tens of thousands of starving prisoners, masses of unburied corpses, the living “mingled in with the dead”. Eric Taylor, an artist from London, was there to witness the devastation. What he saw went on to inspire a series of paintings of figures and scenes from the camp, nine of which are held in our collection. The paintings distinguish indi ..read more

Join us for an Exhibition Talk with curator Dr Kinga Bloch at the Wiener Holocaust Library. The Curator’s Talk will be followed by an Archive Tour, which highlights some fascinating historical documents from our collection. The Library of Lost Books exhibition aims to bring the story of the Higher Institute for Jewish Studies in Berlin, and its library into the heart of London. This institute, operating from 1872 until it was closed down by the Nazis in 1942, was dedicated to the study of Jewish history and culture, as well as rabbinical studies in Liberal Judaism. This exhibition, the first ..read more

Workshop, June 28 & 29 2024, Los Angeles Photo Credit: German loot stored in church at Ellingen, Germany found by troops of the U.S. Third Army, April 24 1945, source: Wikimedia Commons Conveners: German Historical Institute Washington; USC Shoah Foundation; Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway; University of London; Queen Mary, University of London; Wiener Holocaust Library, London. Partners: USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research; Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles; Villa Aurora, Los Angeles; Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles Th ..read more

This is a series of in-person events taking place at Glamorgan Archives, Cardiff, in May 2024. The Wiener Holocaust Library is home to the UK’s International Tracing Service digital archive, which holds millions of documents related to the Holocaust and Nazi era. The archive preserves the shared past of victims and survivors of the Holocaust and helps support family research of Nazi persecution. Our free events programme includes the chance to view our pop-up exhibition, Fate Unknown: The Search for the Missing after the Holocaust, as well as the opportunity to learn more about the archi ..read more

The view from a refugee tent in Khanke, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A large number of displaced and rescued Yezidis remain there © Claire Thomas Ten years ago, ISIS militants conquered the Sinjar region in Iraq and took captive thousands of Yezidi women and girls. Labelled as ‘infidels’ many were forced to convert after they were abducted. Most were sold into sexual slavery among ISIS fighters. Almost 100 years prior, during the Armenian genocide, men of fighting age were massacred and women, children, and the elderly were deported – mostly on foot – towards the Syrian desert. Tens of tho ..read more

This blog is a collaboration between the Wiener Holocaust Library and the Foyle Special Collections Library at King’s College London written by Madeleine Ahern (Librarian and Project Cataloguer at The Wiener Holocaust Library) and Simone Gaddes (Library Assistant at The Foyle Special Collections Library, King’s College London). The full version of this abridged article can be accessed here. Using items from the libraries’ collections, this blog explores the relationship between artistic creation and survival within Theresienstadt. Impetus for this blog comes from both libraries’ connections to ..read more

The Zone of Interest, courtesy A24 On the 15 January we held an exclusive screening of celebrated director Jonathan Glazer’s new film, The Zone of Interest. In partnership with A24 and Jonathan we were able to host a showing of the film for our friends, supporters, staff and trustees, and hear Jonathan discussing this important film in his own words. The Zone of Interest centres on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife as they strive to build a dream life next to the concentration camp. Using unorthodox cinematography and carefully layered sound design, the captures ..read more

In 2024 The Wiener Holocaust Library enters its 91st year as a record-keeping institution. This month we’re excited to create a memorial at Jan van Eijkstraat, Amsterdam, the original offices of the Wiener Library. This is where our organisation was first created as the Jewish Central Information Office, opening its doors on 1 February 1934 as the world’s first anti-Nazi documentation centre. Our Library has a crucial role to play as the world’s oldest Holocaust archive and Britain’s most important collection of evidence of modern genocide. We are sincerely thankful for your support over the ..read more

The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023, the UK’s largest online match funding campaign, is now live and we are pleased to be participating once again. This year we aim to raise £45,000 support us to continue to be a world-leading Holocaust archive, offering valuable resources for education, ground-breaking research, and vital public engagement. Over the last ninety years, our work has only been possible because of the generous support we have received from individuals and organisations through donations to help us grow as an institution and care for our vital collections. A ..read more