Team „Online Collection Wiedergutmachung“ on a three-day workshop in Yad Vashem

From November 8-10, 2022, representatives of the team for the development of the Online Collection Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice were guests at the World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. During a three-day workshop, the eleven-member delegation from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Archives, the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg and FIZ Karlsruhe - Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure discussed procedures and challenges in the areas of description, data preparation and presentation, indexing, and historical education with their Israeli colleagues.

In addition to a guided tour of the impressive exhibition and the "Hall of Names" memorial, the team was given an exclusive look "behind the scenes" at the memorial archives with their photo and digitization department.

The workshop also provided an opportunity to present the current stage of development of the Online Collection on Wiedergutmachung and the underlying infrastructure of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek on the spot. It promoted discussion around the interests of future users of the Online Collection and the topic of accessibility - while keeping in mind the opportunities of international cooperation.

The delegation and the host team consisted of both archivists and technical experts, which showed in a broad spectrum of topics that enabled mutual insights into goals and issues. The lively exchange showed that archives and other memory institutions often face the same challenges in the age of digitization. The discussion around possible solutions, e.g. in the area of data accessibility, thematic indexing or the use of artificial intelligence, could be set in motion. The exchange of perspectives and experiences in a spirit of collaborative partnership was extremely fruitful. All agreed that it should be continued and deepened in the future.