In Babeș-Fruchter, A. & Bărbulescu, A. (Eds), The Holocaust in South-Eastern Europe: Historiography, Archives Resources and Remembrance, Vernon Press, 2021.
https://vernonpress.com/book/453
The article presents previously unknown and untouched original documents relating
to the Holocaust in the borderlands, preserved in the Moreshet Archive in Givat Haviva, Israel. It
argues that despite the broad research on the period and the use of modern technology
to ease the accessibility of documents, there are still treasures “buried” in archives. It
argues that an archivist who is also a historian can best bridge lack of awareness and
languages illiteracy and thus benefit the academic scholarship.
The author uses the case study of the Holocaust in Slovakia, Romania and Hungary to
demonstrate these arguments, analyzing, among others, personal collections of letters,
diaries and photos of figures like Haviva Reick, Egon Roth, Gizi Fleishman and
others from Slovakia, testimonies of survivors from Romania and memoires of Jewish
Council members from Hungary. All are written in different languages – those of the
respective countries and Hebrew and Yiddish as well. Most material had been given
in early years after the Second World War to Moreshet Archive by survivors who came to Israel and joined
the kibbutz movement.
Based on her personal experience as the director of this archive for over a decade, the
author claims that an archivist who has historical education and knowledge can direct
the users to certain materials unknown to them, and guide them how to find missing
pieces in their work. The double skill of archivist-historian is crucial also in reaching
out to people who still keep in their homes important materials and artifacts which
could be critical to the research, analyze their importance and expose them to the
public.
