European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is an international digital infrastructure and community. It is a joint undertaking of Holocaust historians, archivists, and specialists in digital humanities. Through the development of heritage archives into research infrastructures and by connecting the knowledge of heritage archives and making that knowledge relevant for research, EHRI aims to support Holocaust research, commemoration and education. EHRI is coordinated by the Netherlands-based NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Objective. EHRI’s objective is to support the Holocaust research community by building a digital infrastructure and facilitating human networks. The  infrastructure deals with the wide dispersal of sources and expertise across many institutions by connecting sources, institutions and people. EHRI provides access to information about dispersed Holocaust-related sources through its Online Portal, as well as tools and methods that enable researchers and archivists to work collaboratively. Together with over twenty other organizations, EHRI digitalizes Holocaust research to preserve it for indefinite future reference. It aims to have as many institutions as possible join in via standardized digital connections. Projects. EHRI-1: 2010-2015. The EHRI-1 project ran from October 2010 until March 2015. It received funding from the European Union  under the Seventh Framework (FP7) Programme. Together with 19 partners from 13 countries and numerous associate partners, the EHRI-1 project aimed to support the European Holocaust research community. The project delivered the EHRI Portal, an online environment that can be used by both scholars and the general public to search Holocaust-related archival material. The portal hosts reports that provide per-country information about the Holocaust history and archival situation, research guides and other services. EHRI-2: 2015-2019. The EHRI-2 project ran from May 2015 to October 2019, and it was funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020  Programme. Consisting of 24 partners from all over the globe, including institutions from European countries that are traditionally under-represented in the research field, the EHRI-2 project aimed to make previously inaccessible archival material accessible to both scholars and the general public. In 2018, the project was added to the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap. The project concluded with the continual development of both the EHRI Portal (incorporating IRP2, the International Research Portal for Records Related to Nazi-Era Cultural Property) and the facilitation of the expanding Holocaust research community. EHRI-PP: 2019-2022. The EHRI Preparatory  Phase (EHRI-PP) project was initiated to transform EHRI from a project into a permanent European research organization. The EHRI-PP project started in December 2019 and it is scheduled to finish in November 2022. Funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme, this project focusses on the legal, financial and strategic work necessary to establish EHRI as a research infrastructure that will provide a continual service. Consisting of 15 partners from 13 countries, EHRI-PP aims to secure the long-term future of trans-national Holocaust research. EHRI-3: 2020-2024. The EHRI-3 project started in September 2020  and it is scheduled to finish in August 2024. It is funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Programme. Together with 26 partners from all over the globe, the third phase of EHRI aims to deepen the integration of Holocaust archives by developing tools and protocols that grant access to archives that are currently inaccessible, in addition to further enhancing trans-national access via the portal. The project will also focus on the integration of new communities and discussions about antisemitism, xenophobia, non-discrimination, and religious and cultural tolerance. Services offered. EHRI offers a wide range of services  to both the research community and the wider public, for example: Partners. EHRI has 26 partners, representing archives, libraries, museums and research institutions. Type of organization. Though initially project based, the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure is on the road towards becoming a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), a destination it plans to reach in 2025. Published literature on EHRI can be found on the EHRI bibliography page.