EHRI

EHRI
Name	European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
Formation	2010
Type	Research infrastructure
Headquarters	Amsterdam
Region served	Europe
Languages	English
Leader title	Director

EHRI

The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure is a European research infrastructure initiative that connects archives, institutions, and scholars working on the history of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution across Europe. It builds on networks of museums, archives, research centres, and libraries to facilitate access to dispersed collections, support transnational scholarship, and develop digital tools for comparative historical research.

Overview

EHRI links archival holdings and scholarly expertise across institutions such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, Arolsen Archives, Imperial War Museums, Polish State Archives, Bundesarchiv, Jewish Museum Berlin, National Archives (UK), Bodleian Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, Hungarian National Archives, Lithuanian Central State Archives, Czech National Archives, Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, European Commission, Council of Europe, International Tracing Service, Wiener Library, Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, Holocaust Educational Trust, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Majdanek State Museum, Yad Vashem Artifacts Department, US Holocaust Memorial Museum Library, German Historical Institute, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Leibniz Institute, Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, Czech Museum of Music, Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw) and other major repositories to create searchable metadata, online guides, and research resources.

History and Development

EHRI emerged from European research funding initiatives and consortia involving universities and cultural institutions, following projects funded by the European Commission and collaborative frameworks with partner institutions like University of Amsterdam, Tel Aviv University, University of Oxford, University of Vienna, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Warsaw, Central European University, University of Heidelberg, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Paris (Sorbonne), and University of Bergen. Early project phases coordinated digitisation pilots, standards development, and newcomer outreach to collections held by municipal archives in cities such as Kraków, Lviv, Vilnius, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Warsaw. Subsequent phases expanded technical infrastructure and user services, incorporating expertise from agencies like the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and research funders including the European Research Council.

Objectives and Activities

EHRI’s principal objectives include creating integrated access to dispersed Holocaust-related records, supporting comparative transnational research on events linked to Nazi Germany, Third Reich, Axis powers, Wehrmacht, SS, Gestapo, and occupying administrations; facilitating provenance research connected to collections at institutions such as Kunstmuseum Basel, Rijksmuseum, National Gallery (London), and Metropolitan Museum of Art; and developing standards aligned with bodies like International Council on Archives and Europeana. Activities encompass cataloguing projects, metadata harmonisation, digitisation workflows, oral history preservation involving partners like Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, training programmes for archivists and scholars collaborating with Holocaust Educational Trust and Anne Frank House, and workshops held at venues including United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Collections and Services

EHRI aggregates descriptive metadata and finding aids from diverse holdings including private collections, community archives, state archives, police records, camp registries, transport lists, and survivor testimonies curated by Yad Vashem, Arolsen Archives, Federal Archives of Germany, Polish Institute of National Remembrance, Lithuanian Central State Archives, and municipal archives. Services provided include a multilingual portal for discovery, research guides on topics such as deportations, forced labour, ghetto administrations, and rescue efforts tied to actors like Red Cross, ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross, Palladium Trust, and Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; training modules for cataloguing and digitisation; and APIs enabling integration with digital libraries like Europeana and university repositories at University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University.

Partnerships and Collaborations

EHRI partners with an extensive network of cultural and research organisations including Yad Vashem, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Arolsen Archives, Wiener Library, Leo Baeck Institute, Bundesarchiv, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Polish State Archives, Jewish Museum Berlin, European Commission, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Europeana Foundation, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Central European University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, University of Oxford, University of Vienna, University of Warsaw, University of Heidelberg, University of Manchester, King’s College London, Birkbeck, University of London, National Library of Israel, and regional memory institutions across Eastern and Western Europe.

Research and Impact

EHRI supports comparative and transnational scholarship on subjects such as the Final Solution, Wannsee Conference, Kristallnacht, Operation Reinhard, Babi Yar, Riga Ghetto, Theresienstadt, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz, and regional histories in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, and Greece. Its resources enable scholarly work published by researchers affiliated with institutions like Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Toronto, University of Michigan, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and London School of Economics. EHRI has informed exhibitions, legal restitution cases, provenance research, and educational curricula developed by museums and memorials including Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Yad Vashem, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and regional Holocaust centres.

Governance and Funding

EHRI operates as a consortium governed by participating institutions and advisory boards composed of archivists, historians, and digital humanities specialists from partner organisations such as University of Amsterdam, Arolsen Archives, Yad Vashem, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, European Commission, Max Planck Institute, and national archives. Funding has come from European Union research programmes administered by the European Commission and national funding bodies including the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, philanthropic foundations, and institutional contributions from partner museums and archives.

Category:Holocaust studies organizations