Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust, Tel Aviv University/ספריית וינר לחקר התקופה הנאצית והשואה, אוניברסיטת תל-אביב
Address
Tel Aviv-Yafo
Tel Aviv
6997801
Israel
Phone
Fax
History
The Wiener Collection was established in 1933 by Dr. Alfred Wiener, a German Jewish scholar, journalist, bibliophile and member of the Centralverein Deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (CV). When the Nazis rose to power, Dr. Wiener left Germany and moved to Amsterdam. There, he established the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO) with the help of Prof. David Cohen from the University of Amsterdam, a prominent member of the local Jewish community. The JCIO’s aim was collecting information about the Nazi Party as part of the struggle to prevent its strengthening. According to Wiener's vision, the Amsterdam center would draw world attention towards the dangers of Nazi anti-Semitism and the exacerbation of anti-Jewish policies in 1930s’ Europe.
In 1939, Dr. Wiener transferred the collection to London. Throughout the war years, he and his assistants continued to collect information and documents on Germany’s occupation policy, responses to it, and particularly the fate of the European Jewry. During the war, the Center, which came to be known as Dr. Wiener's Library and later the Wiener Library, was used by the British Ministry of Information and the Allied governments. When the war ended, Holocaust survivors' testimonies, as well as information regarding the fate of Jewish refugees, were collected. Up until his death in 1964, Dr. Wiener and his team continued expanding the collection. In the late 1970s, the board of the Wiener Library in London decided to transfer the entire collection (journals, books, microfilms and archival material) to Tel Aviv University where it is located today.
Geographical and Cultural Context
The Wiener Library for the Study for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust is a steadily growing research library and comprises old and new publications on the Third Reich, during and between the two world wars, Jewish communities in Europe, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and fascism throughout the world. As a research library affiliated to the Sourasky Central Library of Tel Aviv University, it offers access to extensive archival sources, books, journals, and databases for researchers worldwide. The library continues to develop and enhance its collections, provides guidance in retrieving information and locating material, initiates conferences, seminars and lecture series, encourages and coordinates research projects, and collaborates with scholars, research institutes, archives and other research libraries.
Archival and Other Holdings
In 1933, Dr. Alfred Wiener initiated the documents collection, which forms the unique archival core of the library. The Wiener Library for the Study of the Nazi Era and the Holocaust developed around the Alfred Wiener documents collection. It comprises original documents collected by Dr. Wiener and his assistants from the early 1930s, during the war and its aftermath, until the late 1970s. The documents’ subjects extend from correspondence and decrees of various Nazi agencies to the activities, the life and the fate of Jewish associations, communities, and individuals before, during and after the Holocaust. It also contains numerous documents regarding the development of modern anti-Semitism, racism and Nazi ideology.
Currently, the library’s holdings include:
- approximately 150,000 books, reference works, pamphlets and journals;
- over 1,000,000 indexed newspaper clippings, unpublished memoirs and interviews;
- around 40,000 documents on the Nuremberg Military War Tribunal;
- various editions and extensive literature on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion;
- dossiers on war criminals;
- documents on the Jewish question taken from records of the Gestapo, the Reichskanzlei and the Foreign Office of the Third Reich;
- more than 500 microfilm and microfiche titles;
- about 300 subscriptions to Holocaust-themed, extreme right and Holocaust denial journals.
Finding Aids, Guides, and Publication
Online Catalog DaTa: https://tau.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/collectionDiscovery?vid=972TAU_INST:TAU&collectionId=81265778720004146&lang=en
Opening Times
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 10:00 - 16:00 Monday, Thursday: 10:00 - 18:00 On Fridays and holidays - the Library is closed
Conditions of Access
The Wiener Library is open to students, researchers, and the general public from Israel and abroad. Most original documents of the Wiener collection are scanned and catalogued. The Wiener Archive online collection is mostly searchable and accessible worldwide through the Wiener Library website or directly through the DaTa system.
Sources
ClaimsCon'06