The vast textual documentation of the Holocaust includes a large number of languages. Availability of this documentation is only the first step towards accessibility. While digital copies of rare documents facilitate access, accessibility still remains limited by two factors: the large quantity of documents without proper indexing (let alone full-text searchability) and the need to understand each document’s language. To overcome or at least bypass these limits, two research questions may play a key role for future Holocaust research and any other research on textual cultural heritage:
- How and to what extent can text documents be made machine readable and automatically indexed?
- How and with what level of accuracy and precision can text documents be automatically translated?
The latter research question is directly addressed in this deliverable while the first is addressed in an indirect manner.
This deliverable includes translator Marie Sevela’s transcripts and translations of three types of text documents:
- Caption sheets of Soviet cameramen
- Reports of the Extraordinary State Commission to Investigate German-Fascist Crimes Committed on Soviet Territory from the USSR (ChGK – Chrezvychaynaya gosudarstvennaya komissiya po ustanovleniyu i rassledovaniyu zlodeyany nemetsko-fashistskikh zakhvatchikov)
- Soviet press articles covering the subject of the atrocities
