The Serbian Genocide Memorial Library & Archives

The Serbian Genocide Memorial Library & Archives, established in 2001, is dedicated primarily to the Serbian victims in the triple genocide that was committed during World War II against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Romany by the Nazi Ustashi satellite state of Croatia from 1941-1945.

The need for the library developed out of the facts that this genocide has been suppressed and distorted for political purposes, and that the brutal persecution and savage massacres by the Ustashi need to be fully acknowledged, studied and remembered by the world.

With the dissolution of communism and the recent willingness of some governments to have their archives declassify documents from this period, an opportunity for further study on this subject is unfolding. Since much of the material regarding this little known chapter of the Holocaust has been written in Serbo-Croatian, it has limited the ability of English speaking students and scholars to study this period. The material that has been written in English is being compiled in the library.

Therefore, the Serbian Genocide Memorial Library & Archives will serve as a repository of books, scholarly papers, primary source documents, newspapers and periodicals, survivor testimony and multi-media resources primarily in English. Selections of material that are not in English are being prioritized for translation. The collection will present the history leading up to the genocide, the genocide period and its aftermath, all with the purpose of educating and enlightening students, scholars and the public. The library will work with scholars, other libraries, Holocaust centers and museums. It will support educational forums, research and new publications. The library will also serve as a memorial to the victims and survivors through a special remembrance page.

Presently, the library’s collection consists of hundreds of books and publications, some rare, thousands of pages of primary source documents, authentic artifacts and original period maps of the Balkans. The library is developing an on-line catalog that will be available through the Internet, and will provide an abstract for each of the books in its collection.

The library is currently not open to the public, but those wishing further information may contact the library’s founder Katalina Petrov Platzer.