Selected Talks & Podcasts

Join Dr Christine Schmidt (The Wiener Holocaust Library) and Professor Dan Stone (Holocaust Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London) as they walk through the Wiener Holocaust Library's exhibition 'Death Marches: Evidence and Memory'. 'Death Marches: Evidence and Memory' was the inaugural exhibition of the Holocaust and Genocide Research Partnership.
A virtual launch event to celebrate the publication of the Wiener Holocaust Library's digital resource, Testifying to the Truth. Chaired by Dr Toby Simpson, the Director of The Wiener Holocaust Library, the panellists (Sharon Kangisser-Cohen, Mark Roseman, Christine Schmidt and Jenifer Ball) discussed the history of the collection, the context of early Holocaust testimonies, the significance of the collection for scholarship, and the project of translation.
Dr Alfred Wiener, born in Germany in 1885, is best remembered as a leading figure in documenting Nazi and anti-Nazi literature, and as the founder of the world-renowned Wiener Holocaust Library. As early as 1918, as a de-mobbed soldier and passionate lover of his country, he realised that the Jews were being turned into the scapegoat for Germany’s humiliating defeat in WWI; he proceeded to record the alarming scale of post-war antisemitic propaganda, a toxic movement that, he saw, would shape Nazi ideology. The Fatherland and the Jews present two of his remarkable and chillingly prescient essays from 1919 and 1924, as this ‘Cassandra’ predicted the heart-breaking fate of Europe’s Jews. To discuss his life, work and enduring legacy broadcaster Matthew Stadlen is joined by: Daniel Finkelstein, Times columnist and Wiener’s grandson; Dr Christine Schmidt, deputy director and head of research at the Wiener Holocaust Library; and Harvard professor of the history of art and architecture Joseph Koerner. Click here and scroll down to watch.
Christine Schmidt talks about the diary of Ruth Ucko and her personal collection held by The Wiener Holocaust Library. Ruth was a Jewish refugee to England from Breslau. Her collection reveals both her life before the war, and her struggles to leave Germany and adapt to life in England.
An archival 'discovery' workshop centred on the Wiener Holocaust Library's digital resource, 'Testifying to the Truth', which features more than 1,000 eyewitness accounts of refugee and survivors of the Holocaust, newly digitised and translated into English for the first time. This workshop featured an introductory hands-on navigation and framing session co-led by the Library's Deputy Director and Head of Research, Dr Christine Schmidt, and Digital Asset Manager, Leah Sidebotham, with Dr Madeline White (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Wartime NI: A Wee Bit of War

Kindertransport and Kindness in Ulster

By now, more people in Northern Ireland are aware of the Kindertransport and the resettlement farm at Millisle, Co. Down, and the vital role it played before, during, and after the Second World War. In the lead-up to Holocaust Memorial Day 2023, we talked to Dr. Christine Schmidt of the Wiener Holocaust Library about the role played by Northern Ireland at this time, the wealth of material in the Arolsen Archives, and the vital ongoing work of the library in the 21st century. Listen here.

History Hit: Warfare

Death Marches: Evidence and Memory

As the Allies advanced through Europe in early 1945, the Nazis embarked on one final escalation of the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners, already weak and starving from their treatment in the camp system, were forcibly marched away from the possibility of liberation. For this episode, James welcomes the curators of the Wiener Holocaust Library’s new exhibition, ‘Death Marches: Evidence and Memory’.
Dr Christine Schmidt and Professor Dan Stone talk us through why the Death Marches happened, what the experience would have been like and how we know anything about them. Christine and Dan draw upon the evidence which they have collected for the exhibition to share some of the personal stories of these last weeks of the Holocaust.  Listen here.

History Hit

Concentration Camps, Internment & Should We Be Worried? 

Dan Snow talks to Dr Christine Schmidt, a curator of the Wiener Library about the historical parallels for internment, and whether the situation we are in today is comparable. For more exclusive history interviews and documentaries, subscribe to HistoryHit.TV. Listen here.