News item | 26-01-2025 | 4:45 PM
The International Research Facility European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) was launched on Sunday 26 January as a European research infrastructure and will have its headquarters in the Netherlands. On January 26, on the eve of the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz 80 years ago, the inauguration ceremony took place at the POLIN Museum for the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. The research infrastructure bundles available public data on the Holocaust from various European countries. The ceremony took place in the presence of Minister Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) and representatives from various European countries.
The research institute marks an important step in international cooperation in the field of Holocaust research, education and remembrance. The headquarters of this important research facility will be in Amsterdam. The European Commission has decided this.
Last summer, Minister Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) and State Secretary Karremans (Public Health, Welfare and Sport) drew up a plan for the establishment of EHRI on behalf of various countries and in collaboration with, among others, the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. ERIC sent to the European Commission.
The research facility, in full European Holocaust Research Infrastructure entitled, aims to collect and make accessible public information about the Holocaust from a large number of countries, for the benefit of, and to create standards for, Holocaust research.
Last Monday, the European Commission (EC) took the decision European Holocaust Research Infrastructure to set up as one European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). With this decision, the European Commission confirms the value and importance of Holocaust research. In addition, this decision ensures that EHRI-ERIC is now an official EU research facility.
Minister Bruins: “Examining your past is the best guarantee for a better future. The EHRI collects public information about the Holocaust, making it more accessible to researchers and other interested parties. My sincere wish is that EHRI can continue to give a face to the horrors of the Holocaust for future generations. Knowledge and research into our past can be a powerful antidote to contemporary anti-Semitism in our societies, and a lasting reminder of the dark period that Europe emerged from. It is an honor to welcome this important research institute to the Netherlands.”
Headquarters in the Netherlands
There is a lot of information available about the Holocaust such as photographs, videos, and paper and digital documents. However, this information is spread across thousands of archives, libraries, museums and other research institutions in Europe and beyond.
This fragmentation makes it difficult for researchers to find and access the information they need. The EHRI-ERIC solves this problem by collecting information on all sources documenting the Holocaust and providing researchers and citizens with easy access to those sources.
A large part of the sources at EHRI-ERIC will soon be searchable digitally. The research facility will also be accessible to the general public, for example to people researching their family history.
The setting up of this Holocaust research facility and the necessary staff are paid for by the Member States. The Netherlands is the host country and will house EHRI’s central office within the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam. National networks are being established in all member states of this new EHRI-ERIC where relevant stakeholders are brought together to unlock all knowledge.
The government reserves an annual amount of €300,000 for the Dutch contribution to EHRI-ERIC. This is financed from the budgets of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Multiple countries
It European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is an initiative of research centers, archives and museums from many countries. EHRI was founded as a project from the NIOD in 2010 and has since been coordinated by the NIOD.
Various countries will unite in the new research infrastructure, namely the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Belgium wants to join EHRI-ERIC in 2025 and EHRI-ERIC is committed to involving other countries as well.
Holocaust research
The establishment of EHRI-ERIC contributes to the objectives of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as laid down in the ‘Stockholm Declaration of the International Holocaust Research Alliance’ from 2000 and the ‘International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Ministerial Declaration’ from 2020. It has been agreed, among other things, to stimulate research and education about the Holocaust and to open the archives for this purpose.
The participation in EHRI and the establishment of EHRI’s headquarters in the Netherlands underlines the great importance that the government attaches to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.