The Holocaust Collection at the Springfield City Library

About the Collection

Since 1995 the Carman Family Charitable Foundation has made generous donations to The Springfield Library in memory of victims of the Holocaust. This has enabled the Library to add several hundred items to our substantial holdings of Holocaust materials providing an extensive collection of circulating books and videos for adults and children dealing with all aspects of the Holocaust.

Research Sources

In addition to our circulating materials, we have several reference works and two major Holocaust research resources. The 22 volume Archives of the Holocaust is an international collection of selected documents, including many photographs and other primary source material. As well, we own the full 36 volume set of the official text in English of The Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg 14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946.

Teacher Aids

The Library has several teachers' guides about Holocaust-related topics. These include two produced by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto and The Nazi Olympics. We also have the resource book accompanying the Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior series. In addition to print material, there are several good Internet sites for teachers:

• A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust : An overview of the people and events of the Holocaust through photographs, documents, art, music, and literature. Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.
• Holocaust Teacher Resource Center: Educators, (kindergarten through college) will find at this site materials which can be brought into the classroom and studied. Whenever possible entire documents are included and may be downloaded for direct use in the classroom. A mailing list provides an open forum for Holocaust educators and students to share information, questions, and answers.
• Teaching about the Holocaust: From the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Includes an online workshop and a printable teacher's guide, Teaching about the Holocaust: A Resource Book for Educators, (PDF, 125 pp.) as well as a guide to the permanent exhibit for classes planning to visit the museum, chronologies, bibliographies, videographies, brochures, and other materials to assist educators in planning for Holocaust learning activities.

Other Resources in Western Massachusetts

There are many other libraries in Western Massachusetts that have good collections of Holocaust materials, including the Five Colleges. Important local resources include:

• Hatikvah Holocaust Education and Resource Center of Western Massachusetts: Located in Springfield, the Hatikvah Center is a living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and serves as an educational and teaching facility for the entire community. The Center serves as a repository for Holocaust materials and testimonies -- oral, visual, and written. It is a resource for Holocaust curricula and course materials for use in public, private and parochial schools. The Center fosters cooperative efforts with local institutions and individuals in the area of Holocaust studies.
• National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst: The National Yiddish Book Center is a young, non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing unwanted and discarded Yiddish books and sharing the treasures they contain -- the culture and sensibility of the past thousand years of Jewish history -- as a wellspring of contemporary Jewish creativity. The Center's website offers information on: programs and exhibits about Yiddish literature, Yiddish culture, and Yiddish language; hard-to-find Yiddish books; an online edition of Pakn Treger, the English magazine of the National Yiddish Book Center; and other resources for Yiddish.

Suggested Reading Lists

The Holocaust in Art, Music and Poetry

Teens and the Holocaust

For selected Internet resources, click here.