Wiener Holocaust Library

London Holocaust archive and research library, founded in 1933 (charity 313015; company 00596820)

The Wiener Holocaust Library
Type	Registered charity and private company limited by guarantee
Founded	1933 (per its website); company incorporated 9 January 1958
Registration ID	Charity 313015; company 00596820

The Wiener Holocaust Library is a London archive and library on the Holocaust and the Nazi era, at 29 Russell Square. Its website says it was founded by Dr Alfred Wiener in 1933 and describes it as "one of the world's leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era". It is a registered charity (313015) and a private company limited by guarantee (00596820); the company was incorporated on 9 January 1958 and the charity registered on 20 September 1967, and the company has changed name several times, most recently to The Wiener Holocaust Library in October 2019.

Several Powerbase pages already link to this title, among them The Pears Family Charitable Foundation, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, David Cesarani and Zionist family foundations in the UK - a ranking.

What the library says about itself

Its history page says the library grew out of the work of Dr Alfred Wiener, who campaigned against Nazism in the 1920s and 1930s and collected evidence on antisemitism and the persecution of Jews in Germany. Wiener and his family left Germany in 1933 and settled in Amsterdam; later that year he set up the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO) "at the request of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association". After the November Pogrom of 1938 he prepared to bring the collection to the UK, where it arrived the following summer; the site says the JCIO served the British Government during the war and that the collection came to be called "Dr Wiener's Library", which led to the library's later name.

Its mission statement lists three aims: to serve scholars, professional researchers, the media and the public "as a library of record"; to be "a living memorial to the evils of the past"; and to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in understanding the Holocaust through an educational programme. It also says its reputation "rests on its independence and the scholarly objectivity of its activities and publications".

Companies House record

The company is active, with SIC code 91012 (archives activities), a registered office at 29 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DP, and a last confirmation statement dated 5 June 2026. Companies House records no person with significant control (the company's statement is that there is no registrable person) and no charges. The register lists these names for the company: Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library Limited (from incorporation to 23 November 2006); The Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History (to 26 October 2015); The Wiener Library (to 20 September 2019); The Wiener Holocaust Library Limited (20 September to 25 October 2019); and The Wiener Holocaust Library since 25 October 2019.

Current officers of The Wiener Holocaust Library (00596820) as listed by Companies House on 11 November 2026 (name, role, status and dates only; former officers are not listed here)

Name	Role	Status	Appointed	Resigned
Catherine Colloms	Director	Active	10 May 2018	–
Lizzie Marx	Director	Active	10 May 2018	–
Jennifer Susan Rofe-Radcliffe	Secretary	Active	1 October 2020	–
Howard Steven Lewis	Director	Active	18 October 2023	–
John Alfred George Alexander	Director	Active	31 July 2024	–
Mary Jean Alexandra Fulbrook	Director	Active	17 October 2024	–
Daniel Peltz	Director	Active	17 October 2024	–
Professor Sir Richard John Evans	Director	Active	24 April 2025	–
Professor William Howard Sherman	Director	Active	24 April 2025	–

Accounts and governance

The accounts for the year to 31 December 2025 are audited (by Sayer Vincent LLP) and were filed on 12 October 2026. They show total income of £1,967,258 (2024: £2,151,979) and total expenditure of £2,097,544 (2024: £2,065,813); investment gains of £217,572 brought the net result to a surplus of £87,286, and total funds rose from £8,188,487 to £8,275,773. The trustees' report says the library relies for substantially all of its income on donations from non-state foundations, charities, other grant-giving bodies, government departments and individuals, and that around £4.2 million of invested funds is exposed to market risk.

The Wiener Holocaust Library: statement of financial activities for the year to 31 December 2025 (£)

Item	2025	2024
Donations and legacies (all unrestricted)	927,382	998,424
Charitable activities	910,200	1,045,995
Investments	119,993	97,765
Other trading activities	9,683	9,795
Total income	1,967,258	2,151,979
Expenditure on raising funds	162,910	200,513
Expenditure on charitable activities	1,934,634	1,865,300
Total expenditure	2,097,544	2,065,813
Net expenditure before gains on investments	(130,286)	86,166
Net gains on investments	217,572	162,849
Net income for the year	87,286	249,015
Total funds carried forward	8,275,773	8,188,487

The note on unrestricted donations and grants breaks the 2025 total down as follows.

The Wiener Holocaust Library: unrestricted income from grants, donations and legacies (note 2 to the accounts, £)

Source as listed in the note	2025	2024
The Wiener Library Endowment Trust	220,000	220,000
The Sigrid Rausing Trust	100,000	120,000
Association of Jewish Refugees	50,000	50,000
Pears Foundation	70,000	35,000
"Peltz Grant"	20,000	15,000
Grants and donations	357,332	246,984
Patrons' and Guardians' events	67,050	309,440
Legacies	43,000	2,000
Total	927,382	998,424

The trustees' report names these as the library's "Funding Partners" for 2025: the Association of Jewish Refugees; the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation; David Lewis CBE; the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; the Jane Rappeport Foundation; the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government; the National Lottery Heritage Fund; the Pears Foundation; Elizabeth and Daniel Peltz OBE; the Sigrid Rausing Trust; the Weldon UK Charitable Trust; and the Wiener Library Endowment Trust. It lists further Guardians and Patrons as well.

The report records that the library's Director of six years, Dr Toby Simpson, left in 2025, and that Dr Barbara Warnock and Dr Christine Schmidt became Co-Directors; that Daniel Peltz OBE became Chair of trustees on 23 January 2025, succeeding Anthony Landes; and that the trustees are unpaid. For 2026 to 2030 it sets out five strategic aims, including extending the Russell Square site, a research initiative called "Truth against Tyranny" on the library's own history, and a partnership with the University of London.

Identification and limits

• This page records Companies House information, the audited accounts for 2025 and the library's own web pages. The library's website blocks automated access, so the web pages were read from Internet Archive captures dated December 2025; they may not match the live site.
• The accounts are scanned images and were read page by page; the main statement figures were checked by eye against the page images and add up.
• In the 2025 report's narrative the 2024 comparatives for unrestricted core-funder grants (£425,000) and other unrestricted donations (£573,424) differ from the sums of the note 2 lines (£440,000 and £558,424), although both give the same £998,424 total; the table above uses the note.
• Earlier years' accounts, and the library's endowment and designated funds, were not analysed beyond the headline figures.
• The Charity Commission register could not be opened from the research box; the charity number comes from the accounts and the library's website.
• The accounts name two trustees appointed in 2025 (Dame Tamara Finkelstein and Peter Oppenheimer) who were not in the Companies House officer list read on 11 November 2026, so the officer table may be incomplete.
• Officer details are limited to names, roles, status and dates from the public register.

See also

• Board of Deputies of British Jews
• The Pears Family Charitable Foundation
• The Sigrid Rausing Trust