The Netherlands offers to host and co-fund the headquarters of the permanent European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI). Dutch incumbent Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren announced this yesterday in her pledge at the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism.

The minister announced the Dutch contribution in front of the heads of state and government, ministers, researchers and civil society representatives who convened at the forum in Malmö. Minister Ollongren: “The Netherlands is pleased to announce that we wish to host the headquarters of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) in the Netherlands and contribute financially to the establishment of the EHRI. The task of the EHRI is to safeguard continuing international research into commemoration of and education about the holocaust.”

Access to sources and expertise

The mission of EHRI is to secure seamless access to all sources and expertise that are relevant to the study of the Holocaust. EHRI currently consists of two project consortia with 27 partners in Europe, Israel and the United States, coordinated by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam.

The pledge from the Dutch government is an important milestone in EHRI’s current transition from an ad-hoc network financed by the EU into a permanent organisation in the form of a permanent European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), supported by countries in Europe and beyond. It is expected that this transition will conclude in January 2025, during the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.