PhD and a Cup of Tea: Wiener Library Documents Section 532

We’re delighted to welcome Ph.D. candidate, Miriam Schulz, to discuss her research on the Wiener Library’s Documents Section 532 –– the archive of the as yet unknown, first Jewish historical committee documenting the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

In November 1939, a group of 60 Jewish journalists and writers, refugees from recently occupied Poland, founded the collective Komitet tsu zamlen materialn vegn yidishn khurbn in Poyln 1939 (Committee to collect materials on the destruction of Polish Jewry 1939) in still independent Vilnius. Without delay, they embarked on a mission to gather documents and eye-witness accounts about the destruction of Polish Jewry since the German invasion on September 1, 1939. Miriam Schulz will present the history and legacy of this committee. By contextualizing its efforts withing the historiographical tradition of Eastern European Jewry (khurbn-forshung), her findings contribute to our understanding of Eastern European Jewish resistance during the Holocaust and reveal the interconnection of Vilnius’ Komitet to communal archives and documenting efforts in the later ghettos––both in spirit and personnel-wise. Additionally, the archive in its digital form will be inaugurated.