The European community of institutions and individuals concerned with the commemoration and study of the Holocaust have endured a period of uncertainty and anxiety about the future of free access to the archival sources underpinning their work. The source of the worry has been the planned European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), scheduled to come into force later this year. This piece of legislation addresses the issue that at present European nations have different and distinct regulations about data protection, often denying in one territory what is allowed in another.

On 14 January 2016, the CENDARI research infrastructure was launched at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences & Humanities.

CENDARI

CENDARI is an acronym referring to the Collaborative European Digital Archival Research Infrastructure, a 4-year, European Commission-funded project which integrates digital archives and resources for the pilot areas of medieval culture and the First World War. As such CENDARI has strong affiliations with EHRI.

In 2015, the first phase of the EHRI project (2010-2015) resulted in a Presentation event in Berlin, where the EHRI portal was succesfully launched. Immediately it was announced that EHRI would continue and be able to sustain and expand in a second phase, with new funding under the EU Horizon2020 programme.

Every country has a its own way of dealing with Holocaust remembrance and education. Ben Barkow, director of EHRI partner, the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide in London, gives us an update on the latest developments in the UK.

On Holocaust Memorial Day 2014 the UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the creation of a commission to investigate the future of Holocaust commemoration and education in Britain.

EHRI partner, the “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for Study of the Holocaust in Romania has a call for papers for their journal Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări (Holocaust. Study and Research).

Holocaust. Studii şi cercetări (Holocaust. Study and Research) is an annual peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to the publication of academic and scientific research papers on subjects like Holocaust, Anti- Semitism, xenophobia, discrimination etc.

EHRI partner, the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum in Lithuania has acquired a new artifact, a headscarf with an important story. Neringa Latvytė tells about it.

The Holocaust Exhibition of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum was enriched by an unique exhibit – a dark blue headscarf with white dots. It belonged to Dita Šperlingienė–Zupavičienė, former prisoner of the Kaunas Ghetto and Stutthof Concentration Camp, who presented the headscarf to the Museum.

In its new phase, the EHRI project has 23 partners, of which 11 are new. In this article, one new partner, the "Elie Wiesel" National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, introduces itself.

The “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania is a governmental institution, located in Bucharest, founded in 2005.

The “Elie Wiesel” Institute conducts research projects and coordinates educational, cultural and commemorative activities, aiming to prevent anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and to raise public awareness regarding the consequences of intolerant behaviours such as discrimination, racism and xenophobia.

10 Day Archival Seminar, 21-31 August 2016

Hosted by the Federal Archives, Berlin-Lichterfelde, Germany

In the framework of the EHRI-project, the German Federal Archives offer a ten day archival seminar under the title “Modern Diplomatics of the Holocaust”. It aims at giving a thorough introduction into the handling of German records related to the Holocaust. The intended audience especially includes archival staff members (particularly from Eastern Europe) and Holocaust researchers who work with German archival records and would like to enlarge their knowledge on archival sources.

Reference Services: New Methods of Utilizing Holocaust Documentation and Resources

27-31 March 2016 l Location: Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel

This seminar is organized in the framework of EHRI (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)

We would like to invite those working in Reference Services with Holocaust Documentation to submit their application for the international EHRI seminar on Reference Services: New Methods of Utilizing Holocaust Documentation and Resources to be held at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, March 27-31, 2016.

17-18 November 2015, Munich, Institut für Zeitgeschichte

The aim of the EHRI work package “New Views on Digital Archives” is to support and develop creative forms of presentation of digital archival content and provide in-depth perspective on Holocaust sources by focusing on selected key thematic areas. The primary goals of these sub-projects within the second phase of EHRI are to develop – interlinked with the main EHRI portal – online editions of documents, an online document blog and online exhibitions. The first EHRI online document blog will be published on 27 January, to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day.