The Wiener Library is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the persecution of the Jews under the Nazis, it was transformed into a research institute and public access library after the end of World War II. The official name of the institution is now "Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, Ltd." Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Allies: • Poland, • UK & Commonwealth, • France, • Soviet Union, • United States, • China, ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Italy, • Japan, ...and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total: 50 million Full list Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total: 12 million Full list World War II, also...

History

In 1933, Alfred Wiener, a German Jew who worked in the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith), fled Germany for Amsterdam. Together with Prof. David Cohen, he set up the Jewish Central Information Office, collecting and disseminating information about events happening in Nazi Germany. Dr Alfred Wiener (16 March 1885, Potsdam – 4 February 1964, London) was a German Jew, who dedicated much of his life to documenting anti-semitism and racism in Germany and Europe, and uncovering crimes of Germanys Nazi government. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 742,951(1 January 2005) Coordinates 52°22′N 4°54′E Website www. ...

The collection was transferred to London in 1939 with Wiener making the resources available to British and other governments' intelligence departments, and the international press, especially the BBC. The library soon became known as 'Dr Wiener's Library' and the name was adopted. For other uses, see London (disambiguation) and Defining London (below). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the publicly-funded radio and television broadcasting corporation of the United Kingdom (see British television). ...

After the end of World War II, the library used its extensive collections on National Socialism and the Third Reich to provide material to the United Nations War Crimes Commission and bringing war criminals to justice. United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The Library's most successful publishing venture was the production of a bi-monthly bulletin commencing in November 1946 (and which continued until 1983).Another important task during the 1950s and 1960s was the gathering of eyewitness accounts, a resource that was to become a unique and important part of the Library's collection. The accounts were collected systematically by a team of interviewers. In 1964, the Institute of Contemporary History was established and took up the neglected field of modern European history within the Wiener Library.

During a funding crisis in 1974 it was decided to move a part of the collection to Tel Aviv. In the course of the preparations for this move, a large part of the collections was microfilmed for conservation purposes. The plans to move the library were abandoned in 1980 after the transports had already begun, resulting in a separate Wiener Library within the library of the University of Tel Aviv that consisted of the majority of the book stock, while the Wiener Library in London retained the microfilmed copies. Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

Today the Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library in London is a research library dedicated to studying the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and German Jewry, and documenting Antisemitism and Neonazism.

See also

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, Stephen Roth Institute The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (German: Österreichischer Gedenkdienst) is an alternative to Austrias compulsory national military service. ... The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issues concerning antisemitic and racist theories and manifestations. ...

References

Ben Barkow: Alfred Wiener and the making of the Holocaust Library. London: Vallentine Mitchell 1997. ISBN 0-85-303328-5

External links

• Wiener Library London
• Wiener Collection at Tel Aviv University
• Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service at the Wiener Library
• Action Reconciliation Service for Peace at the Wiener Library