Alan Sainsbury’s wife, Babette, was displaced by events in 1930s Germany. Together, the couple sponsored refugee children escaping the Holocaust via the Kindertransport rescue effort. The Settlor’s commitment to dialogue between Jews and Palestinians, and to peace in the region, underpinned a flagship funding category for the Alan and Babette Sainsbury Charitable Fund (the ABS Fund) which remains highly relevant today.
In this context, the ABS Fund has been a longstanding funder to the Wiener Holocaust Library, with steady donations since 1971 totalling nearly £200,000. The Library is the oldest archive on the Holocaust and the Nazi era, established by Dr Alfred Wiener in 1933 to collect vital evidence about Nazi antisemitism and aggression. The Library worked with the British government during the war to document the crimes of the Third Reich, and its evidence supported the post-war Nuremberg trials – creating a truly multigenerational legacy.
This important work to preserve and share evidence about the Holocaust, as well as contemporary genocides, continues to this day. Open to the public free of charge five days a week, the library provides a resource for academics, the media and individuals who wish to understand the Holocaust and its historical context. As the number of living Holocaust survivors falls, it is the authentic documents, artefacts and photographs from the period that maintain the memory of genocide and ensure new generations are made aware of the reality of the past.
In a context of rising antisemitism, and wider xenophobia, the library’s work and collections demonstrate the importance of tackling disinformation and prejudice. This work is more needed than ever.
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