In principle, the preparation of this collection is still ongoing, as new information on the persons mentioned in the documents is still being collected. They come mainly from online databases of people persecuted during the National Socialist period, which were made available by institutions such as Yad Vashem in Israel, the Federal Archive in Germany, the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance Movement in Vienna and smaller civic initiatives implemented mainly in Niemczech2.
The information obtained made it easier to organise the collection, e.g. by separating the collection of documents concerning a given person or family and determining the fate of that person or family. Work is in progress on the final compilation of this group of archival materials, which will culminate in an inventory database created especially for this unique collection.
The archival collection described above is particularly dear to the author of this text because it was the first she encountered upon embarking on her archival adventure, in 1999. The first task she had to face was to arrange and describe private documents found after the war and stored in the museum archive.
It is also worth mentioning that access to the Internet was not an obvious fact at the time. Besides, the mentioned databases were also not ready yet. The compilation of the collection boiled down to the description of each document, i.e. taking note of the names, names of places and dates, assessment of the physical state, providing information about the language in which it was compiled. Sometimes it was necessary to combine several cards into one document. Occasionally, they were also scattered in several volumes. It is particularly true in the case of pleadings, where several names were mentioned.
The bad physical condition of this group of archival materials was also a major obstacle to their development. Prior to the discovery, they had lain for a long time in the ground or on rubbish dumps and were exposed to adverse weather conditions. Some documents are almost illegible because of the blurred ink, with discolourations and paper gaps. Many of them have traces of mould, moisture, rust and dirt stains. During work on them, the author repeatedly encountered mud residues glued to the paper. Occasionally, the cards - initially soaked - were so glued together that it was impossible to separate them under normal archival conditions.
Not until the conservation of the described archives (at the end of the project) did the situation change and enabled the Museum staff to effectively use the potential of this group of materials for museum purposes, chiefly for educational and research projects and the creation of exhibitions.
Today, museum workers are increasingly eager to use these sources. This is not only because of their cognitive and visual value but also due to their emotional content - especially appreciated in exhibition pursuits. These materials are perfectly presentable. They are incredibly diverse, colourful, sometimes accompanied by photographs or drawings, which makes them readily "eye-catching".
However, the most important issue to be mentioned here is their source value. They present different aspects of the victims' lives; we learn from them who they were before they arrived at the camps, their occupations and places of residence. One thing these artefacts and their owners have in common is their place of discovery. This place, marked by human suffering, gives these materials a real context that makes them both testimonies of the victims’ lives and evidence of the crimes committed against them. Looking at pictures or documents, we realise that their owners suddenly disappeared. However, before they left, they led a normal life, worked, learned, celebrated important occasions, and all this is reflected in these documents and images captured in the pictures. They show real people as humans, and not only as victims. By analysing typical camp documents - such as files, personal forms, transport lists or registers - we see large figures, numbers, statistics, and even though we know that behind each number is a human being, it is hard to envisage them. They disappear among other numbers, thus losing their individuality.
Moritz Kral probably with his daugher Gertrud