19 JULY 2022

Arkhênum establishes a presence in Dessau-Roßlau, Germany

Following successful projects in Berlin and Leipzig, Arkhênum has embarked on its third project in Germany, setting up a digitisation centre in Dessau-Roßlau.

The Anhaltische Landesbücherei Dessau is a scholarly library closely linked to the city archives of Dessau-Roßlau. Together with the Fürst-Georg-Bibliothek, the library houses the extensive book collection the theologian George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1507-1553).

One of the largest academic libraries from the Reformation

This library is also home to the oldest and most extensive surviving book collection in Anhalt. Mediaeval manuscripts, incunabula, and a rare selection of printed material from the Reformation period, some of which are one-of-a-kind, make this library a remarkable testament to a princely, scholarly collection from the first half of the 16th century.

The digitisation must be carried out on site in the Municipal Archives for insurance and restoration reasons.

Every page turned is an archived story

Streamlining archive searches at the ICRC

World War II. Geneva. Central Prisoners of War Agency. Ref : V-P-HIST-03574-19. Copyright ICRC

Among the most frequently requested records from the archive kept by the Central Agency for Prisoners of War are those related to World War II, particularly the series on French POWs. Unfortunately, these records are currently only available in paper format and on microfilm and microfiche, making internal searches a slow and complex process.

Digitising over 10 million images

In all, over 900 reels of microfilm were digitised, along with 29,000 microfiches.

The index cards containing information about individual prisoners were stored on microfilm, each card featured a reference number that corresponded to logbooks with further information about the detainees, such as their capture location, transfers, place of detention, etc.). These logbooks were stored on microfiches.

Arkhênum introduced a remote collaborative monitoring system to make it easier for the ICRC to track the digitisation process and monitor image quality and communicate with Arkhênum if necessary. Images are uploaded weekly allowing the ICRC to monitor the project’s progress in real time. This streamlined, user-friendly access to the digital images was so effective that the ICRC extended its use of the tool for another year once the project had been completed.

The collaboration continues!

Building on this successful collaboration, the ICRC has decided to continue its partnership with Arkhênum on two further projects on the same theme.

The first involves digitising documents relating to French prisoners of war in the Second World War – 25,000 images will be generated.

The second project, carried out with a German partner, will involve digitising the archives of the Drancy and Theresienstadt camps.

This project, which involves microfiche, Bristol sheets and bound paper archives, will require different types of scanners to cover all formats (microfiche scanner, automatic scanner and heritage scanner).

Every page turned is an archived story