European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Preparatory Phase

The Preparatory Phase project of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is an outcome of EHRI’s adoption on the 2018 Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The EHRI-PP project aims to bring EHRI to the level of financial, legal and technical maturity required for its implementation as a permanent European RI in the domain of Holocaust studies and archives. In particular, the project will ensure the long-term sustainability of EHRI through the drafting of a sound business plan that links EHRI’s scientific case, user and access policy and value proposition to a robust governance structure, legal framework and a financial plan. It will further ensure EHRI’s timely implementation by developing a detailed implementation plan and by negotiating firm financial commitments from national stakeholders. The EHRI-PP project will be carried out by a consortium of 15 partners from 13 countries that have jointly developed EHRI in the context of two EU-funded Integrating Activities since 2010. The consortium includes the major Holocaust RIs in Europe, Israel and the United States. EHRI’s scientific mission is to overcome the enormous fragmentation of Holocaust archives and research. It approaches this mission through the development of a pan-European distributed RI that offers virtual and trans-national access to source material, and promotes the exchange of resources, knowledge and expertise across disciplinary and geographic boundaries. EHRI also plays an important societal role. It ensures that Holocaust commemoration is based on sound scientific research and informed by authoritative archival sources. EHRI thereby contributes to the development of open and non-discriminatory societies across Europe. By consolidating EHRI’s previous achievements and results into a new, sustainable, distributed RI, EHRI-PP will secure Europe’s place at the forefront of Holocaust documentation and research for the long-term.