Bewahren und Erschließen : die deutschsprachige jüdische Presse und das Projekt Compact Memory

Jüdische Zeitschriften stellen für die Erforschung des jüdischen Kultur-erbes eine unverzichtbare Quelle dar. Vollständige Ausgaben der Periodika sind auf Grund des schlechten Erhaltungszustandes und der Zerstörungen durch Krieg und Nationalsozialismus nur noch in wenigen Bibliotheken vorhanden, so dass ihre Nutzung schwierig ist. Compact Memory bietet als Datenbank weltweit freien Online-Zugang zu den Zeit-schriften in digitalisierter Form an und stellt ein wichtiges Hilfsmittel für die Erforschung der modernen mitteleuropäisch-jüdischen Geschichte dar. 118 verschiedene Titel mit insgesamt circa 700.000 Seiten, welche die unterschiedlichsten Strömungen des Judentums repräsentieren, sind als Grafiken bzw. als Volltext zugänglich, außerdem kann in einer Suchmaske gezielt recherchiert werden. Mit der Aufnahme in das UNESCO Archives Portal hat Compact Memory internationale Anerkennung erlangt

The Judaica Division of the Frankfurt University Library : options for cooperation

The University library in Frankfurt/Main owns the largest collection of literature on Judaism and Israel in Germany and one of the major collections in the world. Its task is to document the history of the Jewish people and to serve as a resource for study and research in Germany. The Jewish Division is therefore collecting all relevant national and international publications covering all aspects of post-biblical Judaism and Jewish culture in a most comprehensive manner, as well as all publications on the modern State of Israel. Two databases offer access to the large collections of the Judaica-Division. Yiddish Literature is the database that offers online access to the page images of the outstanding historical Yiddish collection, containing about 800 extremely rare and precious Yiddish and German-Jewish books printed in Hebrew letters from the 16th century onwards. Compact memory is a gateway to more than 100 Jewish periodicals in the German language area published in the 19th and 20th century, providing partly images, partly full-text-search and a bibliographic database of articles. The implementation of a third, new digital project, the »Virtual Judaica-collection« has just started - the digitization and online-presentation of the historical Judaica resources. Formed by his curator Prof. Aron Freimann, it was the largest and most significant Judaica collection on the European continent before the war. The goal is to offer free access to about 18.000 books with 2 Mill. pages over the web. In light of these developments, the presentation will evaluate the current possibilities of German-North-American cooperation in the area of digital projects

Provenance Research, Memory Culture, and the Futurity of Archives: Three Essential Resources for Researching the Nazi Past

The rising significance of Holocaust commemoration has advanced provenance research of Nazi-looted material Jewish heritage and has shown the urgent need for reliable resources in order to cope with the particular challenges of identifying Judaica objects. This review essay examines the theoretical foundations of provenance research in Germany and presents two indispensalbe resources that help with practical provenance research. The Lost Art Database, maintained by the Lost Art Foundation, documents cultural assets beeing illegaly confiscated by the Nazis. The Handbook on Judaica Provenance Research: Ceremonial Object, an open access electronic publication, funded by Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), provides detailed information to identify Jewish cultural objects. The theoretical framework of memory culture in Germany is explored in the book by Dora Osborne, What Remains: The Post-Holocaust Archive in German Memory Culture. In this oustanding analysis of the functions of archives in the process of coming to terms with the Nazi past, Osborne rightly emphasizes the archival turn in German memory culture and proves its importance.