Recovery and Repair: One-day event at Windermere Library

The Wiener Holocaust Library is home to the UK’s copy of the International Tracing Service (ITS) Archive, a remarkable collection of over 30 million documents from the Nazi and post-war eras. The archive preserves evidence of the experiences of 17.5 million victims and survivors of persecution, and reveals the complicated nature of the search for the missing in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

A team from the Wiener Holocaust Library which works on this archive is visiting Windermere Library to offer a free event, exploring this complicated history and how the search for the missing continues today.

Join us for this free event, hosted in conjunction with the Lake District Holocaust Project, which will take place on 11 July between 13.30 and 16.30.

We welcome historians, archivists, family historians, heritage practitioners, and anyone interested in Jewish and Holocaust history and its aftermath. The event is free, but places are limited, so please register to attend below.

13.30 – 14.00: Exhibition viewing

Arrivals, refreshments, and the chance to view Fate Unknown: The Search for the Missing after the Holocaust exhibition (please note, the talks begin at 14.00)

14.00-14.10: Introduction and welcome

14.10-15.00: Curators’ talk

Join the co-curators of the Fate Unknown exhibition, Prof Dan Stone and Dr Christine Schmidt, who will explore the remarkable, little-known story of the search for the missing after the Holocaust. Fate Unknown draws upon the Wiener Holocaust Library’s family document collections and the ITS Archive to illustrate the legacy of the ongoing search for missing victims.

15.10-16.00: The Search Continues

A session led by ITS Programme Manager, Elise Bath, exploring how the ITS Archive is used today to continue the search for information about people persecuted by the Nazis and their collaborators. This session will help you take the first steps in conducting your own family research using the International Tracing Service digital archive, and other sources freely available online.

16.10-16.30: Discussion time and opportunities for one-to-one meetings with experts from the Wiener Holocaust Library.