Digital collection of biographical interviews with Austrian-Jewish émigrés in the United States and Israel

The Austrian Heritage Archive (AHA) is an online archive containing audio and video interviews, as well as a selection of biographical materials, relating to Austrian-Jewish émigrés who survived National Socialism and who live or lived in the United States or Israel. The database was developed between 2013 and 2017 by a team of historians and programmers under the direction of Philipp Rohrbach (VWI) and Adina Seeger (Association GEDENKDIENST). Funding for the project was provided by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, and the VWI. Albert Lichtblau served as the project’s academic advisor. Currently, the Austrian Heritage Archive website offers 20 full-length interviews, each transcribed and supplemented with a selection of documents relating to the individuals’ life histories. These interviews and the accompanying materials are part of the collection of more than 800 interviews in the Austrian Heritage Collection (AHC), one of the largest collections of material on Austrian-Jewish emigration to the United States and Palestine/Israel. These interviews have been conducted, recorded and archived over the past 20 years at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, and, since 2013, at the Leo Baeck Institute in Jerusalem by young Austrians sent to these countries by the Association GEDENKDIENST. Since its online launch, the archive has been accessed by around 40,000 users from over 40 countries.