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The
Austrian
Heritage Collection
A commitment to
Austrian-Jewish history has been central to the Institute's mission
since its foundation in 1955. Approximately 30 percent of the archival
and library holdings relate to Austrian history. In recent years,
however, we have seen an increasing interest in the history of Austrian
Jews. In response to this trend, the Leo Baeck Institute has begun a
new collection devoted to this history.
The Austrian
Heritage Collection, a program whose specific goal is to document the
history of Austrian-Jewish emigres who fled to the USA during the Nazi
years, has been centered at the Leo Baeck Institute since 1996. With
the cooperation of the Austrian
Cultural Institute, New York
and the services of two young Gedenkdiener
(interns sponsored by the Austrian government) this ambitious project
has contacted hundreds of survivors to make sure that their stories
become part of the permanent record.
The aim of
the
AHC is to preserve this part of Austrian-Jewish history by distributing
questionnaires, compiling a project database, collecting contemporary
documents and conducting oral history interviews. The collected
material will serve as the foundation for research and analysis for
future generations eager to learn about Austrian-Jewish life before,
during, and after the Holocaust.
An additional
and essential part of the project is the human contact it affords
between young Austrians and emigres, a connection that will hopefully
help foster a reconciliation of the survivor generation with the land
of its birth.
For further
information please contact the Austrian Gedenkdienst intern,
Philipp Rohrbach at the Leo Baeck
Institute.
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