Correspondence with Lévai, Jenő

Jenő Lévai (1892-1983) was a Hungarian journalist, Holocaust survivor and scholar. Starting as early as 1945, the prolific writer and researcher became the founding father of Holocaust historiography in Hungary.

See Laczó, F., ‘The Foundational Dilemmas of Jenő Lévai. On the birth of Hungarian Holocaust historiography in the 1940s.’, in: Holocaust Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1-27.

The correspondence illustrates the close association between both correspondents. The Wiener Library provides Levai with extensive research support including the provision with sources from its own stock as well as tracing and forwarding further source material from other organisations or individuals. The latter comprises the United Restitution Office, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the UK Foreign Office Library, and the lawyer Robert Kempner.

Levai in return forwards books and archival material he gathered, and further provides his expertise for enquiries on certain details of the persecution and extermination of the Hungarian Jews. Additionally, Levai contributed to the Library’s Bulletin.

Apart from letters the correspondence contains a list of Hungarian publications on the Nazi occupation, a postcard, a copy of a report on the Levente organisations, a Hungarian translation of a German source, an undated Hungarian document, and notes by the Library on certain sources.