On Thursday 16 May, the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre team were invited to the Fate Unknown Exhibition Curator Talk and Drinks Reception hosted by Glamorgan Archives in Cardiff, courtesy of the Wiener Holocaust Library.
The event was part of their UK-wide programme Recovery and Repair, which aims to support Jewish family histories of the Holocaust in Britain.
The Wiener Holocaust Library is home to the UK’s International Tracing Service digital archive, which holds millions of documents related to the Holocaust and Nazi era. The archive preserves the shared past of victims and survivors of the Holocaust and helps support family research of Nazi persecution.
The Recovery and Repair programmes include the chance to view their pop-up exhibition Fate Unknown: The Search for the Missing after the Holocaust, as well as the opportunity to learn more about the archive.
Dr Tetyana Pavlush (Cardiff University) was in conversation with the co-curators of the Fate Unknown exhibition, Prof Dan Stone (Royal Holloway) and Dr Christine Schmidt, which was followed by a presentation from members of the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre project team, Dr Emily Smith and Neil Richardson.
The following day, Emily attended a family history research workshop, which featured speakers from family research support services in Wales, including the Glamorgan Archives, the National Library Wales, and the Jewish History Association of South Wales.
Emily Smith said: "The two day programme was an incredible opportunity to share plans for Merthyr Tydfil Synagogue and the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre project with national institutions in the field of Holocaust and Jewish studies, and open up conversations with residents of South Wales with a connection to the country's Jewish history."