With the advent of the Internet and superior communication technologies, it is important that knowledge and information capture the powers of the new technologies so that they are made accessible on a wider scale than ever before and are relayed to generations for whom the new media play an integral role in life. In the future, the significance of any given topic will be measured by its presence on the Internet and by the amount of information available there.

It was with these issues in mind that OCC undertook a project to establish an interactive, multimedia archive that facilitates access to historical information and personal documentation of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime.

The establishment of the archive is funded within the framework of the European's Commision's ESPRIT Programme and by the Swiss government. Participants in the project include memorial centres, museums, archives and software companies from Israel, Denmark, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Norway and Germany.

Once the information is collected and preserved in digital form, the infrastructure also enables a host of archival functions such as registering, cataloguing and storing while the technical basis has a modular structure for maximum flexibility and decentralised storage. Furthermore, the system is compatible with various meta-data standards, so that many user-orientated functions - including ordering, invoicing, footnote management, cross-referencing, source-material identification and proof of copyright - can be dealt with on-line.

OCC's partners for this project:

• Color Media SA (Switzerland)
• Falstadminnet (Norway)
• Frihedsmuseet (Denmark)
• Memorial du Martyr Juif Inconnu (France)
• PixelPark AG (Germany)
• Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstatten (Germany)
• Yad Vashem (Israel)