Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>This article proposes Historical Network Analysis (HNA) as a methodological framework for Holocaust research that complements narrative historiography and testimony by reconstructing the spatial, institutional, and relational contexts through which persecution, complicity, and – most imprtantly – historical knowledge were produced. While personal testimonies remain indispensable for understanding individual experiences, they are less suited to revealing the broader structures that connected perpetrators, victims, bystanders, institutions, and places across time and space. HNA addresses this gap by integrating heterogeneous archival sources into a common relational model that makes these historical connections analytically accessible. Drawing on transport records, administrative documents, survivor testimonies, and other archival materials, the article outlines how geolocalized historical networks can reconstruct deportation routes, forced labour systems, prisoner transfers, and other interconnected processes that shaped the implementation of genocide. Beyond modelling movements and institutional relationships, the proposed framework also reconstructs knowledge contexts by relating testimonies to contemporary documents, publications, and spatial environments. Rather than determining what particular individuals knew, these models establish the historical contexts within which knowledge circulated, providing an empirical basis for analysing civilian exposure, complicity, and post-war narratives of ignorance. The article further argues that spatial modelling and interactive visualisation are not merely tools of representation but analytical instruments that reveal patterns of proximity, coordination, and visibility that remain difficult to identify through conventional source analysis. Such approaches do not replace established historical methods but extend them by connecting fragmented archival evidence into coherent relational structures while preserving uncertainty and source criticism. Finally, the article discusses methodological and ethical challenges arising from large-scale historical modelling, including incomplete data, artificial intelligence, and the responsible handling of personal information. It argues that Historical Network Analysis expands the methodological repertoire of Holocaust studies by providing new ways of analysing the relational structures through which persecution, complicity, historical knowledge, and remembrance can be investigated.</p>