January 14, 2010
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM’S GROUNDBREAKING ENCYCLOPEDIA DOCUMENTING THE SCOPE OF THE NAZI CAMP AND GHETTO UNIVERSE WINS NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD
Museum Project Marks First Effort to Catalogue all Nazi Camps and Ghettos
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first of a projected seven volumes of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933—1945 was awarded the 2009 National Jewish Book Award in the “Holocaust Studies” category. Covering the early concentration camps that the Nazi regime established during its first months in power as well as the SS concentration camp system that evolved from those early sites, the volume was edited by the Museum’s Applied Research Scholar Geoffrey Megargee and published in June 2009 by Indiana University Press in association with the Museum.
When complete, the project will provide the first comprehensive survey of all known Nazi camps and ghettos. Museum researchers have identified more than 20,000 such sites, several times more than anticipated at the project’s outset.
“This project has greatly increased our understanding of the size and scope of the Nazi camp and ghetto system, and new information will continue to come to light as subsequent volumes are developed,” says Megargee. “This work is an indispensible resource for Holocaust scholarship, and we hope this award will raise awareness about the project and this history among the public and historians.”
Volume one, with a foreword by Nobel laureate and Museum Founding Chairman Elie Wiesel, comprises two books and totals over 1,700 pages, with 192 photographs and 23 maps, and provides details on more than 1,000 camps. The subsequent volumes are scheduled to be released through 2018. More information is available on the Museum’s Web site, where the book can also be purchased, at www.ushmm.org/research/center/encyclopedia. Information about the National Jewish Book Awards can be found at www.jewishbookcouncil.org.
In 2008, Robbing the Jews: The Confiscation of Jewish Property in the Holocaust (Cambridge University Press in association with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2008) by Museum Applied Research Scholar Martin Dean received that year’s National Jewish Book Award in the “Writing Based on Archival Materials” category.
A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to promote human dignity, confront hatred and prevent genocide. Federal support guarantees the Museum’s permanent place on the National Mall, and its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by the generosity of donors nationwide.
