The Wiener Holocaust Library is looking for people to bring their stories and artefacts relating to the Second World War, the Nazi era and/or the Holocaust to a ‘Digital Collection Day’ on Friday 10 November (10am – 3pm).

The event is part of a nationwide campaign organised by Their Finest Hour, a team based at the University of Oxford and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is collecting and preserving the everyday stories and objects of the Second World War.

As these stories are fast fading from living memory, it is vital that they, and the mementos that often accompany them, are preserved for future generations.

At the Digital Collection Day, stories about your family’s experiences – and associated objects such as diaries, letters, photos, medals, and journals– will be recorded, digitised, and then uploaded to the Their Finest Hour online archive, which will be free-to-use from June 2024.

Dr Stuart Lee, project leader, said: “We’re delighted to be able to create an archive of memories of the Second World War era. We know from previous projects that people have so many objects, photos, and anecdotes which have been passed down from family members which are at risk of getting lost or being forgotten. Our aim is to empower people to digitally preserve these stories and objects before they are lost to posterity.”

The project team is especially interested in collecting contributions from people whose families lived through the Nazi era in Europe, 1933-45.

There is no need to book if you wish to attend, please just turn up on the day.

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Matthew Kidd. For more information about the project, please visit the project website (theirfinesthour.org). You can also follow the project’s progress on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.