Contact:
Kara Driscoll, Director of Strategic External Engagement
[email protected] | 513-638-0508
Artifacts, documents and photographs entrusted by local survivors, liberators and their families are now searchable online.
CINCINNATI, OH — The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center launched its new Collections Database, bringing the Center’s archives online and opening it to anyone, anywhere. Visitors can now search and browse artifacts, documents and photographs entrusted to Holocaust and Humanity Center by Holocaust survivors, liberators and their families in the Cincinnati community.
The collection ranges from the deeply personal to historical: a family photograph carried across borders, a letter written in the days after liberation, and together they preserve a history that must never be forgotten.
“We built this database with everyone in mind,” said Cori Silbernagel, Barbash Family Director of Collections & Exhibitions. “Students can bring primary sources into their coursework, researchers can dig into the materials in our care, descendants can search for traces of their own family histories, and anyone who’s curious can explore this history on their own terms. These collections belong to all of us, and now they’re open to everyone.”
Visitors can start their search with the stories of Susan Freudenthal and Werner Coppel, featured collections that bring this history to life through personal objects, records and images.
- Susan Freudenthal, born in Nuremberg in 1920, escaped to New York alone at 17 in 1938 with the equivalent of four dollars. Her parents, unable to get out, were killed during the Holocaust. Susan settled in Cincinnati in 1950, raised two sons here, and died in 2016 at 95.
- Werner Coppel, born in Moers, Germany, in 1925, survived Auschwitz after his parents and brother were deported and murdered. After liberation he recovered religious objects a rabbi had buried in a Berlin cemetery, including a Haggadah and tallit (prayer shawl), which were used at the city’s first postwar Jewish worship service. He immigrated to the United States in 1948.
The launch marks the beginning of an ongoing effort. As the Center continues to digitize its collection, new items will be added regularly, helping ensure these stories remain accessible for generations to come.
Discover our Collections:
The Center’s digital collections are free and available to the public now at https://holocaustandhumanity.catalogaccess.com/home.
Contact & Research Requests
Have a research question or an item you’d like to donate? Our Collections team is here to help. Reach out through the Collections Database Form.
About the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center
The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center exists to ensure the lessons of the Holocaust inspire action today. Located at Cincinnati’s historic Union Terminal, HHC impacts more than 2.5 million people every year through digital and in-person events, museum tours, educational experiences, social media and virtual content. From Australia to India, individuals from more than 25 countries and 30 states engage with our mission.
For more information, visit www.holocaustandhumanity.org.
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