Diaries written by Jewish victims of the Holocaust are among the most powerful personal testimonies of that period and have served as central sources for scholars from various disciplines for decades. Yet, with few exceptions, they have rarely been studied as independent objects in their own right. Composed in secret under life-threatening circumstances, hidden away, and smuggled out of camps and ghettos, these diaries often outlived their authors. They reflect an existential need to bear witness, even when language offered limited means to adequately express the events being recorded. Their scholarly value does not lie – or at least, does not solely lie – in their function as sources for reconstructing historical events, but rather in their capacity to reveal subjective perceptions, narrative strategies, and individual coping mechanisms amid persecution and extermination.

H-DIARIES adopts a transnational and transdisciplinary approach that combines perspectives from Jewish Studies, Literary Studies, Philology, Geography, and Material Culture Studies. Its work focuses on three interrelated objectives:

1. Inventory: Establishing a scientifically grounded corpus of Jewish diaries from the Holocaust era. In close collaboration with international archives and research institutions, a digital database is being developed that will be accessible for both research and teaching purposes.
2. Mapping: Temporal and spatial localization of the diaries using digital mapping methods. The geocoded visualizations will make individual spheres of experience visible, allow for the tracing of diachronic developments, and facilitate comparative analyses on both micro and macro levels.
3. Analysis: Interdisciplinary examination of the corpus from historical, biographical, textual, material, and spatial perspectives. Particular attention is paid to narrative forms, modes of self-positioning, and the materiality of these testimonies.