Campaign launched in Latin America to rescue the history of the Holocaust

Home to thousands of files, documents, photos and videos revealing the most heinous genocide in history, the systematic persecution and murder of up to six million Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany and its collaborators, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will celebrate its 30th anniversary next April.

But time is short, and many vestiges of the past have yet to be recovered and digitized so that the world can better understand the lessons of the Holocaust.

This is an especially urgent task in Latin America, where the museum has launched a campaign to rescue the history of the Holocaust, focused on recovering “amateur films, home movies, private originals, newsreels, propaganda or institutional footage that document emigration to Latin America.” , of people who were displaced, persecuted and discriminated against by the Nazis and their collaborators”, says Jaime Monllor, International Extension Officer of the museum to the voice of america.

Because if there is a ‘missing link’ in the thousands of archives at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, compared to material salvaged or donated by those who have taken refuge elsewhere, it is those related to the experiences of survivors who have emigrated. from Europe to Latin America.

According to Monllor, “we believe that this lack of materials that the museum has on emigration to Latin America is partly due to the fact that people do not know what they have in their homes. Some do not know what their parents or grandparents have in their attics or closets and the historical value that it has.

For those who find valuable legacies in bedrooms, albums, storage rooms or trunks, and consider donating these materials or films, they can contact the IWO Foundation in Argentina, the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, the Chilean Jewish Archive, or in Mexico with the Jewish Documentation and Research Center, and of course also with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

However, the donation does not mean getting rid of these objects forever, which for many descendants of survivors can have incalculable sentimental value. And it is that according to Monllor, “this donation to the museum can be considered as a loan also what we want is to digitize those films.

The donor, the family can get their original material back or an electronic copy if they want.

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