Collections of Holocaust Era

The Archives Centre aims to document the story of those who fled to Scotland from Nazi Europe in the 1930s and 1940s

We are documenting the experiences of those who came on the Kindertransport, or through the efforts of Bertha Pappenheim, Nicholas Winton and others; several hundred refugee doctors who could not practice in Germany and elsewhere and who came to Scotland to requalify;  holders of domestic service visas, political refugees, Polish soldiers, refugee businessmen who rebuilt their businesses in Scotland, providing employment, refugee artists, refugee rabbis and cantors, concentration camp survivors and others.

We are looking at the contribution made by these refugees to Scottish society in many areas and also the role of the Jewish community and wider Scottish society in receiving, assisting and absorbing this wave, including agricultural training schools and hostels, the Women’s Appeal Committee and a number of other support groups.

SJAC has a wealth of material on this period and a fast-growing collection of photographs, documents, interviews, memoirs and artefacts which forms the basis of the new Scottish Holocaust-era Study Centre.  We welcome new material to add to this collection.