The Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS, Regensburg/Germany) is conducting a 12-month project for the digitization of 45 Jewish German-language newspapers, popular calendars and yearbooks from Eastern Europe, published in the time period of 1863 to 1940. The periodicals are held by several libraries in Germany (among others the Library of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, the German National Library, the library of the Institute for German Culture and History in Southeastern Europe and the Albert Einstein Library of the College of Jewish Studies Heidelberg) as printed originals or microfilms. The stocks are delivered to the digitization centers of the University Library of Regensburg and the Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe (DiFMOE) where these will be scanned and long-term preserved according to the latest technical standards. The digitized periodicals will be available in the Zeitschriftendatenbank, the Regensburg Catalogue and in the digital library of the DiFMOE where already 69 other German-language periodicals are freely accessible and full-text searchable.
Due to the huge material losses of the Jewish cultural heritage during the Shoah and World War II many volumes and issues of these periodicals are missing. An important objective of the project is therefore the inquiry for complementary stocks in Central Eastern Europe and the preparation for their timely digitization. An additional part of the project is the compiling of a database of all images within the digitized periodicals.
For a more detailed German description of the project and a list of the periodicals please visit the website of the IOS.
The project is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a decision of the German Bundestag.