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.
 Focus
The Hiatt Holocaust Collection holdings, mostly in English,
focus on the role of the Roman Catholic Church and the Society
of Jesus (Jesuits) in the Holocaust. The Collection is rich
in items documenting assistance given to Jewish victims by
Christians, as well as Christian opposition to the Nazi regime.
The persecution of Christians by the Nazis is another feature
of the Hiatt Collection.
The Hiatt
Holocaust Collection includes works exploring the relationship
between Christians and Jews during and after the Holocaust.
Examples of this include 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.
Development
The
Hiatt Holocaust Collection is maintained by a Coordinator,
with the assistance of the Dinand Library staff. The Coordinator,
the Reverend Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J., is a member of the
Holy Cross History Department and has a special interest in
the Holocaust. His publications include The Jesuits and
the Third Reich (1989), and "The Jesuits and the
Holocaust," Journal of Church and State (1981).
The library staff aids the Coordinator in acquiring new materials,
as well as in overseeing current periodicals. Some titles
of relevance include Holocaust and Genocide Studies
and Yad Vashem Studies.
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Collection, important unpublished documents can be referenced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.
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