Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Collection
Welcome to the University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ Collections website. Explore our approximately 7,000 digital and physical records--including artwork, photographs, oral testimonies and interviews, film, music, books, and exhibition materials.
The Center has also created this subject guide that provides a thorough overview of the materials below.
CHGS Physical Collections
Our permanent collections have been exhibited throughout the United States, and allow us to extend the Center's mission beyond the UMN campus and local community. We are happy to partner with relevant organizations on future exhibitions. For more information, contact us by phone at 612-624-9007 or by email.
CHGS Physical Collections currently include the following works:
Oscar Arrendondo - Welcome to Cleveland, Home of the...
Felix De La Concha - Portraying Memories: Portraits and Oral Testimonies of Minnesota-based Holocaust survivors
David Feinberg - Voice to Vision
Fritz Hirschberger - "The Fifth Horseman" & "The Sur-Rational Holocaust" Collections
Jordan Krimstein - "Choosing One's Way" Watercolors
Lucien Philippe Moretti "Un Sac de Billes" (A Bag of Marbles) Lithographs
Betty Mittleman - Mixed Media Works
Maxine Rude - UNRRA Photographs and Other Photojournalism
CHGS Book and Video Library
The Book and Video Library is located in the Social Sciences Building on the University of Minnesota (West Bank) campus. The library is available for browsing (both online and in-person). To request a time to use the library, please contact us as chgs@umn.edu. Please note: due to COVID-19 and university policy, masks are required in all campus buildings.
CHGS Digital Collections
A collection that includes the Feinstein Digital Gallery (artwork made in response to the Holocaust, other genocides, and mass violence--only available digitally), as well as photographic materials, numismatic and philatelic artifacts, and photograph series of genocide memorials
CHGS Past Exhibitions
Digital records (including images, artworks, and other materials) from past CHGS exhibitions, including Witness & Legacy, Absence/Presence, Coexistence.
Subject-Specific Collections:
Minnesota and the Holocaust: Survivors, Witnesses, Liberators
Visual and oral testimony, documents, and photographs from survivors, liberators, and witnesses who made Minnesota their home.
Armenian Genocide
The Center collections include various media from the time of the Armenian genocide (1915-1920) and from the 1940’s; the collection includes relief posters, editorial cartoons, and Minnesota newspaper articles.
Global World War II
Includes personal narratives, documents, and other materials relating to life during the Second World War. Please Note: Some materials are only accessible to UMN faculty, students, and staff.
ABOUT: Since its founding in 1997 by Professor Stephen Feinstein, CHGS has collected primary sources that provide faculty, students, K12 educators, and members of the general public with unique access points to Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Under the current CHGS director, Professor Alejandro Baer, the Center has commissioned additional artwork and collections, including portraits of Holocaust survivors by Felix de la Concha. Center staff, including Jodi Elowitz, Jennifer Hammer, Taylor Johnson, Dana Queen, Olivia Sailer, Demetrios Vital, and Meyer Weinshel have managed the various holdings, and continue to migrate the content to new, more accessible platforms. Our Collections content has also appeared in on- and off-campus exhibitions, education materials, blog articles, and on social media.