YIVO Receives $2.5 Million Grant to Create Learning and Media Center and to Digitize Key Holocaust Collection

(New York, NY) – The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO) is delighted to announce a $2.5 million grant from the Seedlings Foundation to support two important projects: the creation of a YIVO Learning and Media Center (YLMC), and the digitization of an important part of YIVO’s Holocaust collection, the largest collection of Holocaust materials in the world outside of Yad Vashem in Israel.

The YLMC will create a physical space to showcase YIVO’s Archival and Library holdings and develop educational units designed for students that will introduce Jewish history of Eastern Europe and illuminate its worldwide culture, while debunking widespread, popular misconceptions. Visitors will encounter YIVO materials directly as well as through interactive multimedia exhibitions and public programs.

The YLMC will be a destination for visiting students and provide lesson kits that draw upon primary sources from YIVO’s archival collections of over twenty-four million documents and objects. Short content videos on select topics of Jewish learning will also be developed.

“The YLMC will be created in consultation with educators, scholars, and members of the YIVO community to ensure it connects to its intended audience and will bring YIVO’s archival holdings to life in a way that is accessible and easy to understand by the broader public,” said Jonathan Brent CEO of YIVO. “Our role as the custodians of this incredible heritage is to enable future generations to understand and value their identity in authentic and meaningful ways.”

In addition to his role as Director of Public Programs, Alex Weiser, will take on the role as Director of the YLMC. “There is a magical feeling of discovery when you open an archival box at YIVO and experience a tactile connection to the past. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring that experience to students and a broader audience through lessons and multimedia installations which bring Jewish history and culture to life,” Weiser noted.

YIVO’s Holocaust collection will be digitized and made available online to a global public for free. Collections designated for digitization under this grant include records of HIAS, which aided European refugees prior to and post WWII; German Jewish Children’s Aid, which helped unaccompanied and orphaned children emigrating from Europe to the United States before, during, and after the war; YIVO’s Displaced Persons camp collections; the Lodz Ghetto collection; the Berlin Collection, which has records from Nazi agencies; and about 5,000 kennkarten (identity cards) assigned to the Jews by the Nazi regime, all stamped with a ‘J’ for ‘Jude’. Approximately five million pages will be digitized and put online.

For any media inquiries please contact:
Shelly Freeman
Chief of Staff

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story