Dear readers,

2023 turned out to be a busy, at times challenging, but ultimately successful year for EHRI. Thanks to the continued dedication and hard work of the whole consortium, we reached several important milestones.

The good progress is all the more remarkable given that the consortium had to operate in difficult circumstances. The Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza have been difficult to absorb. They have had and continue to have, a devastating impact on the lives of colleagues working in Israel. Our Ukrainian partner – the Centre for Urban History in Lviv – still finds itself in a situation of war launched by Russia’s armed forces. Yet the Israeli and Ukrainian role in EHRI has not lessened. May the resilience and resourcefulness of all EHRI colleagues who are directly affected by war and conflict, and their continued dedication to EHRI, inspire us all.

“We are leaving Theresienstadt. 5000 men are crowded together in the train. Bauschowitz sinks behind them. The dream of being able to stay together with the family is over. They are going, everyone feels, into the unknown. Squeezed in between rucksacks, suitcases and all sorts of luggage, they begin the recurring debate: where to?”

This is how Holocaust survivor Otto Kalwo described his experience with deportation from the Terezín Ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau immediately after his liberation. He submitted his testimony within the framework of the so-called “Documentation Campaign” in Prague (Dokumentační akce), one of the earliest postwar projects to document the events of the Shoah, collecting evidence, documents, and witness testimonies. Most protocols were compiled in 1945 and 1946 in either Czech or German language.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Archives is pleased to announce that it is accepting applications for its 2024 fellowship program. In 2024, three to six fellowships will be awarded to senior scholars, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and independent researchers to conduct research in the JDC Archives.

Hands-on Workshop CLARIN & EHRI | Call for applicants

March 27-28, 2024 | Location: Prague, Czech Republic | Deadline: 15 January 2024

Language is central to the study of the Holocaust. The documentation of the genocide of Jews and Roma, building on war-time clandestine efforts, has grown since the liberation and today includes large corpora of testimonies, trial proceedings, letters and diaries, government documents, files of aid organisations and much more.