ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

Searching for Traces: Research at the Shapell Center / USHMM

In April 2026, Juliane Niklas conducted a research stay at the Shapell Center for the History of the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Building on earlier archival work by her colleagues Sarah Gruszka and Marie Moutier-Bitan, the visit aimed to identify further ego-documents that could be considered Holocaust diaries within the H-Diaries framework.

Preparing the Search: Between Catalogues and Questions

As with previous research phases, the work began well before arrival. Finding aids and online descriptions were systematically reviewed to pre-select collections that might contain project-related materials. Yet, due to the project’s specific definition of diaries, this preparatory work could only serve as a first filter.

Much of the decisive work remains manual. Each box, each folder was opened with the excited question: could this contain an H-diary? This repetitive yet attentive process reflects the nature of the search itself – careful, open-ended, and shaped by the awareness that diaries are among the most immediate and powerful testimonies of persecution and annihilation under National Socialism.

Working Across Formats: Originals and Reproductions

Research at the Shapell Center involved engaging with a wide range of material forms. Whenever possible, original documents were consulted directly. At the same time, a substantial portion of the work relied on digitized materials available, online or on site, as well as on earlier forms of reproduction such as microfilm and microfiche. This coexistence of formats highlights the layered history of preservation and access.

Archival Support and the Afterlives of Documents

The research was greatly supported by the archive staff, whose expertise and willingness to assist made a significant difference throughout the stay. Their guidance helped navigate complex collections and ensured access to relevant materials at every stage of the process.

An important observation concerns the provenance of many documents. Some of the collections consulted have entered the archive only within the past two decades. In many cases, the authors themselves or their descendants kept these deeply personal records for decades before deciding to make them accessible to researchers and the broader public. This delayed transfer into archival institutions speaks to the intimate nature of diaries and the complex decisions surrounding their preservation and sharing.

More archival research