The Holocaust
Our definition of the Holocaust (agreed by the Board of Trustees, September 2013)

The Holocaust was the attempt by the Nazi regime and its collaborators to murder all of European Jewry during the Second World War. This genocidal policy can be seen to have evolved during the war as the Nazi regime gained more territory, and as more Jewish people came under their control. It culminated in the so called ‘Final Solution’, the murder of six million Jewish men, women and children.   

The Nazi regime had created policy and legislature to ostracise German Jews and those Jews living in other states occupied by the Nazi regime prior to the Second World War. They also instigated the events of the November Pogrom in 1938. 

The Nazi regime also carried out genocidal policies towards those with mental and physical disabilities, Polish and Slav peoples as well as the Roma and Sinti people of Europe. 

Furthermore they persecuted other groups including gay men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, those seen as political dissidents and Soviet Prisoners of War.

Our Collection
The National Holocaust Centre and Museum holds a collection of artefacts relating to the Holocaust. As an actively collecting museum, we are always looking to expand this collection and collect in areas where we are deficient. We collect both actively and reactively. Reactive collecting occurs when we are working on specific projects and acquiring specific items. The primary aims behind this are to collect to enable the museum to expand the collections on display in its main Holocaust exhibition and the Journey, as the objects, photographs, ephemera, documents and testimony on display are the direct evidence of the events surrounding the Holocaust.  

The items we house provide a tangible link to the Holocaust, and as custodians of such important objects, we ensure they are protected and cared for to the highest possible standard enabling us to teach from them for years to come.
A special request for artefacts.

What do we collect?
In order for the museum to be fully representative, it is important for us to have artefacts represented in all areas of the Holocaust. We currently collect items from the following areas:

• Pre  and post war life of Holocaust survivors and their families
• Pre war life of all victims of the  Nazis
• The  Nazi propaganda machine
• Anti Jewish laws and Anti Semitic policy for the  period of 1933-1945
• Nazi policy and law for the period of 1933-1945
• People who sought refuge from the  Nazi regime in Europe and beyond (to include Hiding)
• Rescuers, bystanders and perpetrators
• Liberation and repatriation
• Sites of Murder (Extermination, Labour and Concentration Camps and Ghettos)
• The Kinder

The types of objects collected can include: textiles; art; documents; ephemera; social history items; oral recordings; film footage and photographs and prints.

What do we not collect?

• We will not accept English World War 2 items unless these have an obvious link to the Holocaust
• We will not collect items that do not fit into the categories listed above

Loans in
Currently we have many objects to display, and we will not be accepting loans unless your item falls into our reactive collecting category.

Loans out
Please read our Loans out policy and then make your request using the Loan Enquiry form.

The amount of items we can collect, store and display is limited, therefore please ensure you fill out the form Donating an object and wait to hear from the Curator before bringing or posting your item to us.

Contact us

t: (01623) 836627

dd: (01623) 867651
e: [email protected]