The Crimes against humanity exhibition looks at the common features shared by the genocides of the past one hundred years.

Using the words of well-known commentators on this theme, among them broadcaster Fergal Keane, African affairs expert Alison des Forges, war correspondent Martin Bell, and international jurist Richard Goldstone, the film explores some of the most pressing concerns of our time.

By what means does a society ostracise those it wishes were not there? What role does mass propaganda for a 'Utopian vision' play in this process? Are economic difficulties frequently to blame? Should the international community take a stand? What is the role of international justice?

The film runs continuously throughout the day. It contains harrowing elements, and is not recommended for children under 16.

See the entry under "Jewish" about The Holocaust Exhibition.

See entry under "Jewish" about The Holocaust Exhibition.

The Imperial War Museum has extensive collections relating to Commonwealth armed forces and civilian life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with particular emphasis on periods of conflict. A selection of resources can be searched on Collections Online at www.iwmcollections.org.uk, using terms such as personalities, events and terms such as ANZAC, Australia and New Zealand.

Australia and New Zealand

Commonwealth countries are particularly well represented in the Museum’s collections and there are many items relating to the contribution made by the ANZACS during the two world wars.

Many images of Photographs and Art relating to Australians and New Zealanders, particularly in the two world wars, can be accessed on Collections Online. These include key images of Gallipoli, such as those illustrated above, as well as the other campaigns in which they fought. Many more can be viewed by appointment in the visitor rooms at the Museum.

The department of Documents has a substantial number of items relating to Gallipoli, such as diaries and letters written by ANZAC soldiers and by Royal Navy officers at sea off the beachhead. There are also numerous oral history records in the Sound Archive. Holdings can be searched on Collections Online, and arrangements can be made for accessing the material.

The holdings of the Film and Video Archive include a copy of the only surviving film taken on Gallipoli. Heroes of Gallipoli features footage taken by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, who was originally sent to Gallipoli as the War Correspondent for the London-based national newspapers by the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. At the behest of Sir Alfred Butt, the theatrical entrepreneur, he took a film camera on his return to Gallipoli in July 1915 where he met Ernest Brooks, the official Royal Navy still photographer, who helped him take this remarkable film.

The department of Printed Books provides access to a wide range of books, journals and other material in the reading room. Holdings include rare maps such as Operations on the Gallipoli peninsular 1915-1916, reproduced by the Survey of Egypt under authority from the War Office from a series of captured Turkish maps, as well as a many other maps relating to wartime operations. The Museum also displays many objects relating to Commonwealth countries in its exhibitions, especially at the Imperial War Museum London branch.

All of the Museum's collecting departments also have further information available on site.

For enquiries or for appointments to visit, contact the departments directly:

Department of Art: 020 7416 5211 art@iwm.org.uk
Department of Documents: 020 7416 5221 docs@iwm.org.uk
Department of Exhibits: 020 7416 5272 exfire@iwm.org.uk
Film Archive: 020 7416 5291 film@iwm.org.uk
Photograph Archive: 020 7416 5333 photos@iwm.org.uk
Department of Printed Books: 020 7416 5342 books@iwm.org.uk
Sound Archive: 020 7416 5363 sound@iwm.org.uk

Imperial War Museum Collections Online

The Holocaust Exhibition - a permanent display at the Imperial War Museum.

The Imperial War Museum houses the national Holocaust Exhibition. The 1,200 square metre historical display uses original artefacts, documents, photographs and film, presented in a distinctive architectural framework, to tell the story of the Nazis' genocidal programme. It brings to this country, for the first time rare and important historical material, some of it from former concentrations and extermination camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. While the main focus is on the persecution of the Jews of Europe, other groups such as Gypsies, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals and prisoners of conscience will also be included.

Exhibits range from a funeral cart used in the Warsaw Ghetto; the letters of a French Jewish boy who hid in an orphanage before his betrayal and deportation to Auschwitz; a section of a railcar from Belgium of the sort used for deportation; a sign from the extermination camp at Belzec and a thirteen metre long model depicting events at Auschwitz-Birkenau in May/June 1944. The filmed testimony of survivors of the Holocaust plays a key and moving role.

In Spring 2006, the museum acquired a series of seven paintings by Roman Halter, a survivor of the Holocaust now working in Britain.

More information on The Holocaust Exhibition