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Index cards from Mauthausen Concentration Camp, given to Yad Vashem by Mr. Bernard Rand
One of the central tasks of Yad Vashem, as the national institution that documents and commemorates the Holocaust, is the collection of various kinds of archival documentation: photographs, journals, testimonies, personal documents and belongings.
All materials arriving at the archives are listed in the Accessions Register, according to the Archives Law of the State of Israel. Confirmation of receipt of the item and its registration is sent to the submitter, and through the catalogue number that is assigned, it is possible to locate the item even after many years. Additional information about the items, such as anecdotes about the people appearing in the photographs, or background stories about letters is also saved. The items themselves are open to researchers and the public at large, unless the submitter has requested that limitations be placed on their availability.
Information about submitting documentation to the Archives.
Photo and Film Archives
Photographs and films are important historical resources for both research and visual commemoration.
The collection of historical photographs at Yad Vashem, comprised of more than 400,000 photographs, approximately 500 albums and 11,000 collections, is the largest in the world dealing with the Holocaust. In addition, there are over 130,000 photographs of victims, which were attached to Pages of Testimony.
The collection documents a variety of areas: Jewish life before and during the Holocaust; the lives of the survivors in Europe after the war; Holocaust commemoration activities around the world, and so on. The photographs arrive at the Archives from a wide range of sources, including: official archives; private collections; museums; historical collections as well as storerooms and attics.
The origins of the photograph collection lie in the documentation efforts of individuals and groups immediately after the end of the war. Following the opening of the Yad Vashem Archives, photograph collections that had been received previously were incorporated into the Archives. In 1983, a separate Photo Archive was set up, and since then, this section has coordinated the collection, cataloguing and research of historical photographs related to the Holocaust. In 1993, computerized cataloging of the collection was initiated, and in 1998, the scanning of the photographs began. In 2008, the online collection of photographs was uploaded to the Internet.
The collection of original films from the time of the Holocaust contains hundreds of titles including raw footage, newsreels, amateur films, propaganda films, institutional films, feature films and trials. Use of the material in the films and footage is subject to restrictions placed on the materials in accordance with copyright law.
Visit the Online Photo Archive
Administrative Archive
The Administrative Archive documents the activities of Yad Vashem from its inception to the present in the following areas: commemoration, education, documentation collection, research, international contacts, etc. The Administrative Archive houses official documents, letters, reports, surveys, photographs, filmstrips, and so on. One can examine these archival materials by prearrangement, according to the research guidelines set forth in the Archives Law and Yad Vashem regulations.
To contact the Administrative Archive, please complete the form.
Digitization
The Yad Vashem Archives strive to provide the public with access from afar to its documentation collections. The primary requisite for such access is digital scanning of the materials preserved in the Archives. Scanning also helps to preserve the documentation by reducing the need for direct contact with the materials and at the same time serving as a backup.
The digitization of archival materials is a joint effort of Yad Vashem's Archives and Information Systems Divisions. To date, all audio and video testimonies at Yad Vashem, every Page of Testimony, the entire Photo Archive and half the microfilms have been scanned. We have recently begun to scan paper documents in the Archives and we plan to complete the scanning project over the coming years.