United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Artifact Request

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126

Your experiences as a witness to the crimes of the Holocaust are an important story that needs to be told. Therefore, we are turning to you for your assistance in helping us further document and share these experiences. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum continues to build its collection of original photographs, documents, and artifacts that document the experiences of the Holocaust in Europe, Palestine, the Far East and the Americas. In order to document the Holocaust accurately, authentically, and powerfully, the Museum seeks original material about the onset of Nazi terror, persecution and atrocities, the American and world responses, armed and spiritual resistance and rescue, liberation, persecution of war criminals, and the reestablishment of life after the Holocaust.

The mission and purpose of our collection is to preserve for future generations the photographic and artifactual record of this fateful period in history. Much of this record lies in the hands of private individuals. Your material, when brought together with those of others who have shared similar experiences, takes on an even greater historical significance. Placed in the large context of individuals from a specific town, concentration camp, Displaced Persons' camp, or liberating unit, your personal possessions become historical documents that can and should be used for education, scholarship, and exhibition.

The Museum has been honored to receive original materials from many of you already. Yet, we are imploring those who liberated the camps, worked and cared for the survivors following the liberation, and prepared for, participated in or attended the war crimes trials to share their personal stories with us. We are looking for original materials including original documents, letters, diaries, artwork, music, photographs, clothing, personal artifacts, toys, historic film footage, personal testimonies, and other artifacts from the time period that were kept with you, created, acquired, and/or used throughout the time period surrounding the Holocaust.

The Museum's holdings, whose care is provided by generous support from both the public and private sector, represent one of the most comprehensive Holocaust collections in the world. Should you decide to contribute your material, the Museum assumes full responsibility for its long term care and storage and commits itself to making this material accessible to curators, scholars and researchers in perpetuity.

If you possess items that you would like to donate to the Museum, one of our staff members would be pleased to meet with you, learn of your unique experience, and discuss your material.

If you have materials that you would like to bring to our attention, or if you have questions about items that you have previously donated to the Museum, please contact:

Kyra Schuster Curator Division of Collections 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 phone: 202-488-2649 email: kschuster@ushmm.org