Director of International Affairs Paul A. Shapiro of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who fought for the opening and access to and subsequent digitization of the nearly 200 million historical documents from the Holocaust by the International Tracing Service, told a Wednesday evening symposium in Jerusalem, “These archives and their growing accessibility are a potent weapon against rising Holocaust denial.” He said, “It is also an important lesson for today about resurgent Antisemitism. In the Holocaust, when hatred was unleashed it wasn’t limited to Jews. Just as today when Antisemitism is on the rise, its dangers extend beyond the Jewish community.”
For decades, the International Red Cross and governments around the world, including the US and Israel, did not allow the archives to be opened for public use. Holocaust scholar Elana Heideman, who heads the Israel Forever Foundation, said “It is our hope that this digitization process will revive interest in the Holocaust, especially among the descendants of Holocaust victims,” adding, “This process will make the facts and reality of the Holocaust accessible for future generations, especially as survivors are dwindling in number.”