International research facility for Holocaust research step closer

The arrival of an international research facility for Holocaust research - headquartered in the Netherlands - is a step closer. So write Minister Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) and State Secretary Karremans (Health, Welfare and Sport) in a letter to the Lower House. The cabinet approved the plan for this on behalf of several countries, and in cooperation with, among others, the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) to the European Commission. The research facility, in full European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) entitled, aims to collect public information on the Holocaust from a wide range of countries and make it accessible so that more research can be done with it.

Minister Bruins: "Those who want to improve their future must know their past. We are seeing a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across Europe. I find this unacceptable and a major concern. The EHRI collects public information on the Holocaust, making it more accessible to researchers and other interested parties. Important because more knowledge and research of our past is very important for countering anti-Semitism in society."

State Secretary Karremans: "I think it is extremely important that we pass on the raw and full reality of the Holocaust to future generations. Because that way we keep remembering the victims and we keep each other focused on what consequences anti-Semitism, discrimination and exclusion can have. With fewer and fewer eyewitnesses to the Holocaust, we increasingly fall back on original sources and archives. So good that the EHRI is compiling these and making them accessible."

Paper and digital archives collected

The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is an initiative of research centres, archives and museums from a large number of countries. Besides the Netherlands, these include Belgium, Germany, Israel, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, as well as the United Kingdom. The research facility compiles the available public data on the Holocaust from the countries concerned. This is for the purpose of scientific research, remembrance and education about the Holocaust. This includes photographs, videos, paper and digital archives. For example, on train transports in World War II, letters from people in concentration camps and recent scientific research on the Holocaust.

Head office in the Netherlands

Much information about the Holocaust is available, but this information is scattered across thousands of archives, libraries, museums and other research institutions in Europe and beyond. This dispersion makes it difficult for researchers to find and access the information they need. The EHRI solves this problem by collecting information on all sources documenting the Holocaust and provides researchers and citizens with easy access to those sources. Once approved by the European Commission, the new research facility will have its headquarters in the Netherlands and will be located at NIOD. A large part of the sources at EHRI will soon be digitally searchable. The research facility will also be accessible to the general public, for instance people researching their family history.

Next step

The request for the establishment and set-up of EHRI was sent to the European Commission for approval on 11 July this year. Once approved, EHRI can start immediately, expected in early 2025. The set-up contains important details, such as the location of the headquarters in the Netherlands, the details of the legal entity to be set up and the agreed draft statutes. It may take several months for the European Commission to approve this plan. The research facility can then start soon, the scientists involved within the participating countries have already started collecting and searching the public information. Setting up this research facility and recruiting staff will be paid for by the member states themselves. The government has reserved an annual amount of €300,000 for the Dutch contribution to EHRI until 2035. This is financed from the budgets of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.