Научно-просветительный центр и Фонд «Холокост»

Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center was registered in June 1992. The Interregional Holocaust Foundation was established in Moscow in 1997. It is the first organization in the post-Soviet era aimed at preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, creating museums and documentary exhibitions, including the subject in the curricula of schools and institutions of higher education, organizing commemorative events, erecting monuments, and gathering of evidence and memoirs. The first President of the Center was Mikhail Gefter (1918-1995), Russia's outstanding historian and philosopher. The Center and the Foundation brings together more than 200 Russian professional scientists, journalists, public figures and teachers as well as former ghetto prisoners and veterans of WW2. There are branches or regional representatives of the Center in St. Petersburg, Blagoveshchensk, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Vladimir, Rostov, Smolensk, Taganrog and Brest (Belarus).

The Center and Foundation occupies office space in the center of Moscow that was set aside for it by order of the Russian Federation Government. The Center and Foundation has a specialized library, video collection and archive for the preservation of personal collections of the former ghetto prisoners and participants in the Great Patriotic War and the Resistance. It also has lecture and exhibition halls with a permanent documentary exhibit and mobile exhibitions. Meetings of the "Unknown Holocaust" discussion group, the Youth Center and the Association of the Righteous Among the Nations are held at the Center and Foundation on a monthly basis. Leading world experts regularly give lectures and make presentations. They include Professor Michael Berenbaum, one of the founders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the former director of the Yad Vashem Dr Yitzhak Arad, Paul Levin and Stephane Bruhfeld (Sweden), the authors of the book "Tell Your Children About It", and Dr Shimon Samuels, director of the European Bureau of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Every year, the Center and Foundation holds evening ceremonies commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and the heroes of the Resistance. Government leaders participate in these events, which evoke a strong response from society and the media. Other activities include: international scientific conferences and symposia; educational seminars from Brest to Vladivostok, and from Archangelsk to Kaliningrad; international courses for teachers; competitions for research on the Holocaust; and international conferences for schoolchildren. A special series of books is published under the title The Russian Holocaust Library and a scientific and information bulletin entitled Holocaust. The Center and Foundation also participated in the creation of such documentaries as The Ghetto of Brest (winner of the Grand-Prix at the Montenegro film festival in 1995) and Process (2002). The Center and Foundation maintains close partner relationships with all the leading museums and scientific centers in Europe, Israel, North America, Japan, CIS countries and the Baltic States. The archive of the RREHC was founded in 1992. It is the only place in the Russian Federation which has a vast collection of documents and personal belongings relating to the history of the Holocaust and the Jewish Resistance during the Great Patriotic War. As a result of the RREHC’s constant research, new objects and documents are regularly added to the archive. Personal donations also contribute to the expansion of the collection. Currently, the archive consists of 48 different collections. Most of its content come from the United States, Israel, the countries of the former USSR and a series of other European states. About 6 000 publications are listed in the table of contents.

Center has 3 departments: Archives Educational Department Library

The archive of the RREHC was founded in 1992. It is the only place in the Russian Federation which has a vast collection of documents and personal belongings relating to the history of the Holocaust and the Jewish Resistance during the Great Patriotic War. As a result of the RREHC’s constant research, new objects and documents are regularly added to the archive. Personal donations also contribute to the expansion of the collection. Currently, the archive consists of 48 different collections. Most of its content come from the United States, Israel, the countries of the former USSR and other European states.

About 6 000 publications are listed in the table of contents. In total, the archive counts more than 15 000 documents, objects and books. Its structure is made up of the following subsections:

• personal belongings
• collections provided by other organizations
• collections subcategorized by subject
• family collections

A separate section is composed of books and periodicals, which include personal collections. Among others a separate collection of rare books published during the war and early postwar years exists as well as a separate collection of audio and video clips about the Holocaust and Jewish resistance. The organization of personal collections is determined by the of personality of the fund creator, as well as an array of other sources. If the set of documents relating to one source creator consists of three or more types of sources, these materials are given a separate personal status. Among the sources are 33 collections concerning participants of the World War II, Jews, guerrillas, on underground resistance, the former ghettos, and Holocaust historians (among others: D.I. Ortenberg, major general, chief editor of the "Red Star" during World War II; V.J. Petrenko, Hero of the Soviet Union, lieutenant general commanding the division that liberated Auschwitz; E.G. Elisavetskiy - the first commander of the liberated Auschwitz; I.S. Feffer, a Jewish poet, one of the leaders of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee; F.D. Sverdlov, professor and author of books on the history of the participation of Jews in World War II.

Complete Finding Aid to the collection of the Center is available online: http://en.holocf.ru/pages/24