Edward Serotta’s Holocaust Archive: 1,230 Lives, 25,000 Photos, One Mission to Remember
In a quiet corner of Vienna’s Jewish community center, Edward Serotta moves among Holocaust survivors and their families like a gentle conductor—offering a warm word, a reassuring pat, or a listening ear. At first glance, he might seem like just another guest at the monthly Café Centropa gathering. But Serotta is anything but ordinary. He’s the visionary behind one of the most comprehensive oral history projects on Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe before, during, and after the Holocaust.
What Is the Centropa Archive?
For over two decades, Serotta has led Centropa, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the everyday lives of Jewish families across 20 European countries. Unlike traditional Holocaust documentation that often focuses solely on persecution and loss, Centropa’s mission is to capture the fullness of life—birthdays, weddings, school days, family recipes, and neighborhood stories—before the world was shattered.
“Every one of them comes with a story,” Serotta says, reflecting on the 1,230 in-depth interviews he and his team have recorded with survivors. These testimonies span over 45,000 pages and are accompanied by more than 25,000 personal photographs—many rescued from attics, shoeboxes, and crumbling albums.
Why This Work Matters Now More Than Ever
As the number of living Holocaust survivors dwindles, projects like Centropa serve as vital bridges between memory and history. Serotta’s approach is deeply human: he doesn’t just ask survivors what they endured—he asks how they lived. What songs did their mothers sing? What games did they play as children? What did their synagogues look like on a quiet Friday evening?
This emphasis on daily life restores dignity and dimension to people too often reduced to statistics. In classrooms from Berlin to Boston, Centropa’s materials are used to teach empathy, history, and the dangers of indifference.
By the Numbers: The Centropa Legacy
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Survivor Interviews | 1,230 |
| Countries Covered | 20 (primarily in Central & Eastern Europe) |
| Transcribed Pages | Over 45,000 |
| Historic Photographs | 25,000+ |
| Years of Fieldwork | 2000–present |
A Living Memorial
Serotta doesn’t see Centropa as a museum piece locked in the past. Instead, he calls it a “living memorial.” The project continues to host events like Café Centropa—intergenerational gatherings where survivors share stories over coffee and cake, often with police stationed outside for protection in an era of rising antisemitism.
“We’re not just preserving history,” Serotta explains. “We’re keeping memory alive in real time—through conversation, community, and connection.”
