COURAGE

connecting collections

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. The USHMM documents, studies and interprets Holocaust history, while also actively preserving the memory of those events. The USHMM’s collections contain more than 12,750 artifacts, 49 million pages of archival documents, 80,000 historical photographs, 200,000 registered survivors, 1,000 hours of archival footage, 84,000 library items, and 9,000 oral history testimonies. It also has teacher fellows in every state in the United States and almost 400 university fellows from 26 countries since 1994.

The University of Tartu was founded in 1632. During the Great Northern War, the university and the library were closed. In 1802, the University of Tartu reopened with a new library located in the ruins of Tartu Cathedral. The main purpose of the library was to help researchers by collecting literature for them. During the interwar period, the University of Tartu Library was the biggest and the most important library in the Republic of Estonia. The library started to collect copies of every text published by Estonian publishers. During Soviet times, it started to research its rare books and art collection. In the 1980s, the library moved to a new building, where it still is today. Since the 1990s, it has experienced rapid digital development, and has switched its main focus to online material.

At the end of 2016, the library had almost 55,000 registered users, about 40% of whom were not directly connected with the University of Tartu. A total of 67% of readers were students, 6% were university staff (professors, PhD students, etc), and others made up 27%.

The Vajda Lajos Studio was established in 1972 (officially as part of the József Attila Cultural House) as a circle of visual artsists interested in experimental practices. The cohesion of the group originates from the genius loci, their relation to Szentendre and its progressive artistic traditions.

Since 1973 they operate a gallery in a baroque cellar in Szentendre, where they regularly arrange exhibitions, performances, concerts and other related events. During the years several new generations of artists tied to Szentendre joined VLS.

From 1990 VLS functions as an association, independent, but legally more formalized. Its current members are: Aknay, János; Almási, Gertrúd; Baksai, József; Balogh, István Vilmos; Bán, Miklós; Benkovits, Balázs; Benkovits, Bálint; Bereznai, Péter; Borgó György, Csaba; Bukta, Imre; Csató, Máté; Csontó, Lajos; Deim, Péter; Frózsi-Nánássy, Tibor; Gosztola, Gábor; Győrffy, Sándor; Holdas, György; Horányi, Sándor; Hudák, Mariann; Imre, Mariann; Kis Tóth, Ferenc; Kótai, Tamás; Kovács, Benedek; Krizbai, Sándor; fe Lugossy, László; Márkus, Péter; Margit, Szabolcs; Megyer, Márta; Mikó F., László; Nagy, Barbara; Novotny, Tihamér; Pacsika, Rudolf; Petrovity, Sándor; Selényi, Károly István; Szirtes, János; Szuromi, Imre; Tóth, Eszter; Tóth, István; Ungár, Ágnes; Sz. Varga, Ágnes Kabó; Várnagy, Ildikó; Vincze, Ottó; ef Zámbó, István.

Current representatives: Takács Gábor (vice chair), Vincze Ottó (chair)

The word vakuf has its origins in the Arabic veqafe, and it means preserving, keeping, or dedicating. Vakuf is an institution of Islamic law, developed from the 11th to 19th centuries, which in many ways is related to the institution of a charitable foundation in European law. Vakuf means a permanent good that the individual freely provides for the general benefit and use of the community with certain religious, social, educational, economic and charitable goals. The vakuf should be structured so that its benefits are long-lasting and is permanently economically viable.