Hiatt Holocaust Collection & Resources

 This guide is designed to assist you in conducting research with and in relation to the Hiatt Holocaust Collection at the College of the Holy Cross Libraries. On this guide you will find recommendations for resources owned by the Holy Cross Libraries pertaining to Holocaust research, as well as other recommended online resources.

For further assistance with your research, please contact us using the information on the Research Assistance page.  Please note that some of the materials in the Hiatt Collection are held by the Special Collections & College Archives. 

About the Hiatt Holocaust Collection

The College of the Holy Cross maintains a substantial collection of Holocaust materials. The origins of this collection date from 1979 when two new wings of Dinand Library were dedicated to the memory of Joshua and Leah Hiatt and all victims of the Holocaust. The collection is listed in the Directory of Holocaust Institutions published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. 

The holdings, mostly in English, have as their focus the role of the Roman Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Holocaust Events. The Collection is rich in items which document the assistance given by Christians to Jewish victims of the Nazis, as well as the opposition to the Nazis shown by Christians during the Nazi years. The persecution of Christians by the Nazis is another special feature of the Holy Cross collection. One will find works in several languages which look to the relationships between Christians and Jews as they have reference to the Holocaust. Examples of this are the Israeli diplomat, Pinchas E. Lapide's, Three Popes and the Jews (1967) and Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger's, LeChoix de Dieu (1987).

Purpose
By sponsoring the Frances and Jacob Hiatt Collection of Holocaust Materials, the College of the Holy Cross wishes to preserve in memory the six million Jews put to death under the Nazi regime. As an academic institute, Holy Cross strives to educate its community about centrality of the Holocaust in modern religious history and to foster and deepen a commitment to social justice. This alone may prevent a repetition of the genocide and violent destruction.

Special Materials
Although published works constitute the majority of the Hiatt Holocaust Collection, important unpublished documents can be referenced on microfilm. Most pertinent are those relating to the persecution of churches by the Nazis. This material was collected by the Reverend Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., the founder of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and was used at the Nuremberg Trials. Several works by Edith Stein are also included.

Not part of the Hiatt Collection itself, but of possible interest to Holocaust researchers, are archival materials from the Walsh Collection, the Clark file, audio visual materials about World War II, documentaries (including lists of prisoners), papers on the Vatican and the War and records of American attempts to help the Jews. Some materials, such as the Clark file, are held in the Holy Cross Archives.