Seminar to introduce remote access to the Arolsen Archives -
Researching Nazi Persecution, Forced Labour and Displaced Persons -


Arolsen Archives & NIOD, Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
29.01.2020-31.01.2020, Amsterdam, NIOD
Deadline: 16.12.2019

The Arolsen Archives - International Center on Nazi Persecution
(formerly the International Tracing Service, ITS) - hold the world's
most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of National
Socialism. Part of the institution's mission is to continually improve
access to its collections, which are made up of well over 30 million
documents pertaining to the Holocaust, Nazi concentration camps, forced
labour during World War II, and the registration and care of Displaced
Persons (DPs) in the post-war period. Furthermore, the archive holds
more than three million post-war case files documenting the fates of
individual Nazi victims (mainly correspondence with enquirers). By now,
over 85 per cent of the records have been digitised. Users can access a
growing number of documents (albeit not the collections in their
entirety) in a new online archive that the Arolsen Archives launched in
May 2019. For more information about the institution and its holdings,
please refer to the website of the Arolsen Archives at
www.arolsen-archives.org.

The NIOD, Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies is a
research, knowledge and information centre about war, the Holocaust and
genocide and is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences (KNAW). Founded on 8 May 1945 with the goal of writing the
history of the Second World War in the Netherlands and in the former
Dutch East Indies, the area of work today covers the 20th and 21th
century. The focus thereby lies on research into the effects of wars,
the Holocaust and other genocides on individuals and society. The
ambition of the NIOD is to make links with war violence visible
elsewhere in the world through independent research with a strong civic
focus and to show that the long-lasting consequences of violence do not
stop at national borders. For more information about the institution and
its holdings, please refer to the website of the NIOD at www.niod.nl.

As part of a broader strategy to enable and improve access to the entire
digital collections, the Arolsen Archives and the NIOD Institute for
War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies are co-organising an international
three-day research seminar for scholars from the Netherlands and
neighbouring countries. The event will take place at the NIOD in
Amsterdam from 29 January through 31 January 2020. At its core, the
seminar will enable participants to carry out their own research in the
digital collections of the Arolsen Archives through a recently
established "remote access" solution. Competent staff on site will
provide guidance in exploring the depths of the digital archive. For
this, participants will have to bring along their personal (portable)
computers. Please note that remote access will only be possible on
devices running Microsoft Windows. Participants will be able to save
selected documents of interest free of charge.

Over the course of the event, there will be room for joint discussions
about the pros and cons of working with the documents in their current
digital environment. Participants are also encouraged to exchange ideas
on both methodological approaches in general as well as their individual
research projects. How can varying scholarly needs - for instance with
regard to research on individual persons, but also larger groups,
places, or specific thematic aspects of Nazi persecution - be met
through the current structure of and search engine navigating the
digital collections of the Arolsen Archives? Where do their limitations
lie? And which future activities in processing the collections (e.g.
through specific metadata indexing) have the potential to enhance
researchers' experience and enable them to engage in innovative methods
and topics?

The seminar will take place at the NIOD in Amsterdam, 29 January through
31 January 2020. The event language will be English. Participants will
arrive in Amsterdam on 28 January 2020.

Interested candidates from The Netherlands and neighbouring countries
are encouraged to send their application via e-mail to
requests-rs@.... Applications should consist of a short
letter of motivation, a brief biographical note, and an overview of the
project for which you intend to explore the digital collections of the
Arolsen Archives (1-2 pages in total). The deadline for applications is
16 December 2019. Participants will be chosen and notified by 20
December 2019.

The organisers will cover the costs of accommodation (three nights at a
hotel in Amsterdam), organise the hotel bookings, and provide two
lunches and two dinners. Participants, on the other hand, will have to
pay for and book their own transportation to and from Amsterdam.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us at
requests-rs@.... We look forward to many interesting
applications!
Homepage <http://www.arolsen-archives.org>
Yvonne Stern
Rio de Janeiro - Brasil