Archive
The Fortunoff Archive’s collection consists of over 4,400 testimonies of Holocaust survivors, witnesses and liberators. Learn how to search the collection for materials relevant to your research. Includes step by step instructions on how to register in Aviary and access the collection. Search the Archive
Fellowships
The Fortunoff Archive actively encourages supports scholarship with the collection through its fellowship program. The archive offers several fellowships including a two-year fellowship for a postdoctoral scholar, as well as fellowships for doctoral candidates and senior scholars. Learn More
Access Sites
The Fortunoff Archive makes its collection available at dozens of access sites around the globe. Access Sites are generally institutions of higher learning, museums, and memorial sites. There is no cost to become an access site. Locate an Access Site
From the Archive
Visual Search
Visual Search: Metadata Visualization
The Fortunoff Video Archive For Holocaust Testimonies and the Yale Digital Humanities Lab built this Visual Search tool to provide a simple overview of the Fortunoff Archive’s collection and enable quick filtering and discovery of relevant testimonies. SearcheBook
I Did Not Interview the Dead
An enhanced, e-book edition of David Boder’s long out-of-print I Did Not Interview the Dead, originally published in 1949. This groundbreaking work includes interviews from victims and witnesses of the Holocaust recorded in 1946 by Boder in the displaced persons (DP) camps with a state-of-the-art wire recorder. Learn MoreLet Them Speak
Let Them Speak
Let them Speak is the epigraph of this digital monograph and the name of the collaborative project between three institutions that gave rise to it. A hybrid publication with various components bringing together survivors’ testimonies, digital history, computer science, philosophy, and personal memory. Learn MoreCritical Editions
Introduction to the Testimony of Esther Fox
The Critical Editions Series contextualizes testimonies in their historical time and place. Each testimony in the series was chosen by a visiting scholar, who produces an introductory essay and annotated transcript. Learn MoreVlock Fellowship
I Am Free...But Who Is Left?
A mother, a father, four brothers, and a sister live in Hrubieszów, Poland, a small town with a majority Jewish population. They thrive economically and academically despite antisemitism. Survivors of the family and the town describe the Nazi invasion, brutality, destruction, and murder. Personal photographs and documents enhance reflective first person accounts. Learn MoreSongs From Testimonies
Shotn/Shadows, Songs from Testimonies, Volume 3
The Songs From Testimonies project is a musical research and performance based on poems and songs in the interviews with Holocaust survivors recorded at Yale’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Learn MorePublications
History of the Collection
Publications include an extended history of the Fortunoff Archive, written by former archivist Joanne W. Rudof, scanned print newsletters, conference programs, and other documents, including an interview training packet. Learn MorePodcast
Chapter 10: Aftermath
In this final chapter of “Remembering Vilna,” several of the survivors whose stories we’ve featured tell of their journeys to safety and new beginnings, even as the traumas they experienced remained ever present. Learn MoreEdited Program
The Last Time I Saw Them
Five Holocaust survivors describe the terror of being separated from their parents in this short documentary that draws on recorded testimonies from the Fortunoff Video Archive, historic images, and family photographs. WatchEvents
Online Concert of Cry, My Heart, Cry: Songs from Testimonies
On January 27, 2021, the Yale Institute for Sacred Music, Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, and the Fortunoff Video Archive held a public, online performance of songs from Testimonies in the Fortunoff Video Archive, Volume Two. WatchVlock Fellowship
A Valts
This animated short brings to life a Yiddish poem, A Valts (The Waltz) by A. Lutzky. Written in the interwar period, the poem was also sung to children in the Lodz ghetto. Watch as couples dance to a dirge that foretells life’s impermanence. Learn MoreEvents
Racism, Fascism and the Jim Crow Military
On February 25, 2021, the Fortunoff Video Archive hosted an online lecture by PhD candidate Anna Duensing. Using the testimony of Leon Bass (HVT-1241), she examined the experiences of African-American service members who confronted the Nazi threat. WatchPodcast
SE02E10: Judith Perlaki
Teenaged Judith Perlaki recalled cheating death twice after being deported from Hungary to Auschwitz. But most of her family wasn’t so fortunate. ListenSongs From Testimonies
Episode 13: Ani Ma'amin
A look at the song "Ani Ma'amin," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Irene S., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by Omer Bartov, professor at Brown University WatchEvents
Ten Years of "The Wonder of Their Voices": The Future of the Boder Collection
The Fortunoff Video Archive hosted a discussion with author Alan Rosen and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) library and archive staff, Adam Strohm and Mindy Pugh, about the work of psychologist and interviewer David Boder. WatchSongs From Testimonies
Episode 12: Badkhen's Song
A look at the "Badkhen's Song," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Jack M., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by songwriter and filmmaker Josh Waletzky WatchSongs From Testimonies
Episode 11: Treblinka Survival Song
A look at the song "Treblinka Survival Song," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Irene S., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by Samuel D. Kassow, professor at Trinity College. WatchSongs From Testimonies
Episode 10: W pociągu jest tłok
A look at the song "W pociągu jest tłok," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Peretz H., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by author Krzysztof Czyżewski. WatchSongs From Testimonies
Episode 9: Polish Army Songs
Episode 9 features Polish Army Songs, drawn from the testimony of Jack M. (HVT-1555). Jack M. learned these two songs from his fellow soldiers and officers in his regiment. WatchPodcast
SE02E09: Elias Recanati
When the Germans took control of the Greek city of Salonika, Elias Racanati’s family had one chance to escape—his mother’s family hailed from Spain. But they had to cross German-occupied Europe to get there. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Episode 8: Płaszów Inmates’ Song
This song is based on a poem drawn from the testimony of Ruth C. (HVT-3793), who was born in Kraków, Poland in 1920. Ruth remembers singing this song in Płaszów concentration camp, but she cannot recall the melody. WatchSongs from Testimonies
Episode 7: Stepan
Episode 7 features Stepan-blondin. This song is based on a poem drawn from the testimony of Liubov’ K. (HVT-3280). This is a ballad telling the story of the inmates escaping the labor camp to the village (possibly to get food) and their cruel guard Stepan. Liubov’ recites it as a poem in her testimony, with no melody. WatchPodcast
SE02E08: Malka Baran
Malka Baran expressed her love of children by caring for a toddler hidden in the barracks of a concentration camp and teaching first grade at her DP camp. It was the start of her lifelong commitment to early-childhood education. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Episode 6: Proschai
A look at the song "Proschai," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Liubov' K., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by Dr. Sarah Garibova, Former Fortunoff Video Archive Hartman Fellow. WatchPodcast
SE02E07: Leon Pommers
Fleeing Warsaw ahead of the invading Nazis, concert pianist Leon Pommers was propelled into a perilous journey around the world in hopes of reuniting with his sister in America. ListenSongs From Testimonies
Episode 5: Tuchi Nad Budyschem Vstali
A look at the song "Tuchi Nad Budyschem Vstali," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Liubov' K., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by Dr. Sarah Garibova, Former Fortunoff Video Archive Hartman Fellow. WatchSongs From Testimonies
Episode 4: In Dem Kleinem Dorf
A look at the song "In Dem Kleinem Dorf," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Liubov' K., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by Dr. Sarah Garibova, Former Fortunoff Video Archive Hartman Fellow. WatchPodcast
SE02E06: Esther Schwartzman
As Polish Jews fled across the border into Hungary bearing stories of Nazi atrocities, Esther Schwartzman’s family and community didn’t believe that such things could happen to them. Then in early 1944, everything changed. ListenSongs From Testimonies
Episode 3: Trayb Di Khvalyes
A look at "Trayb Di Khvalyes" from Songs From Testimonies. Listen to a clip of survivor Jack M., a performance by the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble & Sasha Lurje, and commentary by D. Zisl Slepovitch and Eléonore Biezunski, Associate Sound Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. WatchPodcast
SE02E05: Abram Merczynski
When Abram Merczynski’s brother organized an orchestra in the Lodz ghetto, Abram promised himself that if he survived the war, he’d learn to play the violin. He lived—and kept his promise. ListenSongs From Testimonies
Episode 2: Kadima
A look at the song "Kadima," from Songs From Testimonies, including a clip of the survivor Itzchak S., a performance of the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble, and analysis by William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard, Derek Penslar. WatchPodcast
SE02E04: Helen Jonas
Deported to the Plaszów concentration camp, Helen Jonas faced almost certain death. Instead, she was chosen by Amon Göth—the camp’s notorious, brutal commandant—to be his servant. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Shotns/Shadows
The title song of Volume 3, Shotns/Shadows originated in the Vilna ghetto, with Leyb Rosental’s lyrics providing a poetic setting to an unidentified popular tango tune. It was performed by the Vilna native and Vilna ghetto survivor Sima S. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Di Bone (Oj ta bona!)
This composition can hardly be called a song: it is rather a gathering of the rhymes by the so called bona-singers from Warsaw ghetto. Bona was a food voucher: without it, one could not purchase food in the Warsaw ghetto. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Pochod neutrálů
Miriam A. recounts how the group of Czechoslovakian inmates, fellow female camp prisoners, boosted their morale by singing Czech songs of resistance, songs of struggle and peace. ListenSongs from Testimonies
Szydłowiec Nign I
Jack M. was born in 1916 in the Polish town of Szydłowiec, where he also served in the Polish army and, during WWII, was a ghetto prisoner. A remarkably wonderful folksinger, Jack remembered and performed multiple songs in various genres in several languages as part of his testimony. Listen
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Available Now: Shotns/Shadows, Songs from Testimonies, Volume 3
We are pleased to announce that Shotns/Shadows, Songs from Testimonies, Volume 3, by Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble & Sasha Lurje is available now on Bandcamp and Spotify as well as the Fortunoff Video Archive webpage.
The Songs From Testimonies project is a musical research and performance based on poems and songs in the interviews with Holocaust survivors recorded at Yale’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. There are more than 100 testimonies in the collection in which survivors recount poetry or sing musical compositions from the prewar, wartime and postwar periods.
The Fortunoff Archive asked musician-in-residence, Zisl Slepovitch, to locate these songs, conduct research about the origins of each song, and then [...]
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Permission to Publish from the Archive
Permission is required to publish quotations from testimonies in articles, conference papers, and other works. Request PermissionLicensing Requests
Request Information about Licensing
Licensing from the Fortunoff Archive is required to use visual, video or audio excerpts from testimonies in podcasts, films or videos. About LicensingPublication Database
