Wiener Holocaust Library appoints new co-directors

The Wiener Library, the UK’s most significant institution dedicated to the study of the Holocaust, has announced the appointment of two co-directors.

Christine Schmidt and Barbara Warnock have been named as the institution’s new leadership team, the first women to take the helm at the library in its nearly 100-year history.

Schmidt and Warnock have both worked at the library for a combined 23 years.

Schmidt became deputy director and head of research there in 2015, a role that involved championing the value of the institution’s archive for researchers, and securing its profile among international conferences and advisory committees.

Warnock was previously the library’s senior curator and head of education, piloting some of its key public programmes, including an expanded education programme and online resources for schools and universities.

A statement from the institution said that “although the Wiener Holocaust Library has never, until now, appointed a female director, its work throughout the past 92 years has been predicated on the efforts of distinguished female researchers, librarians and subject experts.

“Ilse Wolff, originally from Berlin, was chief librarian of the library from 1940 until 1966. She worked to research and publish information on the Holocaust after herself fleeing persecution.

“Dr Eva Reichmann also fled to Britain in 1939, becoming the library’s first director of research in the 1940s. Her book on Nazi antisemitism, Hostages of Civilisation, was published in 1950 and she went on to lead an ambitious effort to record eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust, about which Christine Schmidt is currently writing a book.”

Schmidt said of the appointment: “I am excited, thrilled and honoured to be taking up the role of co-director permanently at this important time in the library’s history. We look forward to working together and with our talented staff and generous supporters to secure our work with our partners for the future.”

Warnock added: “I’m honoured to take on the role of co-director after a hugely rewarding ten years seeing first-hand the impact our collections have on students, teachers, researchers, and the wider public. I'm looking forward to working with our dedicated staff and partners to build on this remarkable institution’s legacy.”

The chair of the library, Daniel Peltz, said: “Christine and Barbara bring a wealth of valuable experience to their new roles, and are worthy successors to lead the library through its next exciting phase. I’m looking forward to working closely with them and seeing the Wiener Holocaust Library expand its offering creatively and deliver its vital mission with renewed purpose and energy.”

The appointment comes ahead of a substantial expansion of the library’s public programmes, the continued digital transformation of its collections, and “plans to strengthen the institution’s position as the UK’s Holocaust archive of record”.

The institution said it was “a significant time for the library, and for Holocaust education and commemoration in the UK, when access to truthful information about and evidence from the Nazi era could not be more valuable”.

The Wiener Holocaust Library holds one of the world’s most extensive archives on the Holocaust, the Nazi era and related themes, with a collection of over one million items including published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony.