The project "H-DIARIES - The first testimonies of the Holocaust written by Jewish victims: analysis, inventory, mapping" brings together French and German researchers around a shared topic: diaries written by Jewish victims during the Holocaust. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR), H-DIARIES is based at the Center for Holocaust Studies, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) under the direction of Andrea Löw and is conducted in cooperation with the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Centre de recherches historiques (EHESS-CNR), led by Judith Lyon-Caen.
Indeed, diaries written by Jewish victims of the Holocaust are among the most powerful personal testimonies of that period and have served as central sources for scholars from various disciplines for decades. Yet, with few exceptions, they have rarely been studied as independent objects in their own right. Composed in secret under life-threatening circumstances, hidden away, and smuggled out of camps and ghettos, these diaries often outlived their authors.