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Preserving history: the Riga Jewish Ghetto model
The project will result in the creation of a detailed model of the Riga Jewish Ghetto during the Second World War. The former Riga Ghetto territory is a rare piece of living history, spans nearly 2500 square meters, and has since been transformed into a residential area. The scale of the model will not only capture the layout and dimensions of the area accurately but will also offer visitors a comprehensive understanding of life in the ghetto through the usage of digital media and other features. Information will be gathered through research in Latvian and foreign archives. The completed model will become part of the permanent exhibition at the Riga Ghetto Museum in Latvia. The project also includes the creation of a website with the 3D model, digital content alongside traditional forms of interaction with visitors at the Museum, educational programmes, and scientific publications.
Applicant: Shamir Association
Research into the persecution of Roma, Sinte, Manouches, Gitanos, Yéniches and travellers in France from 1940 to 1946. Collection of written and oral testimonies (2019-2025)
The project will result in a collection of filmed, oral, and written testimonies from witnesses and witness descendants of the persecution of Roma communities in France during the Second World War. 40 interviews have been filmed with the last living witnesses and descendants of witnesses since 2019. The project has brought together a collection of recorded or written testimonies from 33 testimonial collections, representing several hundred hours of audiovisual recordings and involving around 280 witnesses. The collection will be permanently preserved at the French National Archives. A website will be created to feature project objectives, achievements, testimony extracts, and historical data. The project will symbolically mark the entry of the featured testimonies into the heart of French national memory.
Applicant: École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales/School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS)
Safeguarding oral history of the genocide of Roma in Ukraine
This project will be a continuation of the work that ARCA started in 2022 in collaboration with “Aid Network for Survivors of Nazi Persecution in Ukraine.” A database was established that includes contacts of over 100 Roma Holocaust survivors in Ukraine, and 8 survivors among them already were interviewed during 2023 with the support of the EVZ fund. The project will result in the creation of a digital archive of video and audio testimonies of Roma survivors collected during individual recording sessions across Ukraine. The project aims at recording 30 interviews by visiting the residences of elderly survivors. Using testimonies, the team will plan online and offline workshops with the project partners. The project ensures the preservation of at-risk archival materials and engages decision-makers to promote recognition of the Roma genocide in Ukraine during the Second World War.
Applicant: Youth Agency for the Advocacy of Roma Culture “ARCA”
Using non-invasive technologies to further explore the history of Holocaust sites in Latvia
This project will safeguard the Holocaust record by mapping and documenting unidentified and poorly known Holocaust-related areas, including killing sites, in Latvia and Lithuania. It will use a multidisciplinary approach to find and analyze remnant features of Holocaust related sites using non-invasive technologies such as low-level remote sensing. With archival research and survivor testimonies, the project will add new information to the knowledge base about the Holocaust in Lithuania, and six Latvian sites, including Skede, Liepaja, Jungfernhof, Salaspils, Tukums, and Rezekne. The data will be collected onsite using non-invasive technologies to detect the remnants that exist below the surface at known and suspected Holocaust sites. The collected data will be interpreted to develop and disseminate a more comprehensive knowledge of Holocaust history in Latvia and beyond.
Applicant: Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit
Jewish Sephardic communities and the Holocaust – Summer School
The history of Sephardic communities during the Holocaust remains poorly documented. This project will organize the first summer school focusing on teaching and researching this history during the Holocaust in Southeastern Europe. The program will use comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to combine methodologies from various fields, produce a nuanced understanding of Sephardic community experiences, and stimulate new avenues of research. The summer school will be held at the premises of the University of Rijeka in September 2025 and bring together 25 students and scholars from Southeastern Europe. The school will be established every two years and will provide educators and students with pedagogical tools to incorporate Sephardic history into curricula, public discourse, and research agenda.
Applicant: University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
“Tripas amargas” (Wombs of Sorrow): the unveiled stories of the Greek-Jewish women of Block 10
This project investigates the untold stories and experiences of Sephardic women from Greece who were imprisoned for several months in Block 10 at Auschwitz-Birkenau starting in March 1943. Subjected to horrific medical experiments, these women remain largely overlooked in Holocaust history. By pursuing several investigative avenues to reconstruct their lives and experiences, the “Tripas amargas” project will also investigate the lasting emotional impact of the Holocaust atrocities on the second generation of female Sephardic survivors. It will include archival research, collection of medical and administrative documents to reconstruct the life trajectories of the women, testimony analysis, and interviews with survivor descendants. The findings will be published in Hebrew, Polish, English and Greek to ensure accessibility.
Applicant: Salti Institute for Ladino Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Uses and perceptions of an antisemitic lexicon: analysis of the potential impact on European students
This project examines how students from several European universities in Belgium, France, Spain, and Poland are influenced by public words, slogans, and expressions referencing Holocaust history and memory. Within the context of student mobilization to support Palestinian victims of the Israel army’s intervention in Gaza from Fall 2024 to Spring 2024, a quantitative survey will be done to measure the prevalence of certain terms and phrases among students in disciplines where mobilization has been strong. It will also assess student awareness of the issues related to the use and normalization of these expressions. The project will also include interviews with students for detailed analysis and eventually bring together all project partners in a workshop to share findings, and form deliverables to inform decision-makers, educational policymakers, and higher education institutions.
This project has received the Professor Yehuda Bauer Grant for 2024.
Applicant: Yahad In – Unum