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
Critical Editions
Introduction to the Testimony of Esther Fox
The Critical Editions Series contextualizes Fortunoff Video testimonies in their historical time and place. Each testimony in the series was chosen by one of our visiting scholars. Each scholar then produced an introductory essay about the chosen testimony, along with an annotated transcript that provides additional insight and background information. Learn MoreeBook
I Did Not Interview the Dead
An enhanced, open access e-book edition of David Boder’s I Did Not Interview the Dead. Boder was one of the first researchers to record audio interviews with Holocaust survivors, using a remarkable portable wire-recorder developed at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he worked as faculty. In 1946, Boder traveled to Europe, visiting Displaced Persons camps and other sites to record the testimony of dozens of survivors. Some of those interviews, transcribed and presented with Boder’s comments, were published in this groundbreaking book in 1949, which has been long out of print in English. Learn More
Let 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. Let them Speak is symbolic; it expresses my intention to give voice to millions of murdered Holocaust victims, to the Drowned, as Primo Levi, the Italian writer and Holocaust survivor, named them. In Search of the Drowned is 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 Sidney Bruskin
The Critical Editions Series contextualizes Fortunoff Video testimonies in their historical time and place. Each testimony in the series was chosen by one of our visiting scholars. Each scholar then produced an introductory essay about the chosen testimony, along with an annotated transcript that provides additional insight and background information. 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 MoreEvents
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. WatchSongs 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. 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 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. ListenEdited 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. Watch
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Jewish American Heritage Month: Remembering Elie Wiesel's Contributions to American Jewish Culture
By Joanne W. Rudof, Archivist Emeritus, Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
It is forty years since the appointment of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel as a Henry Luce Scholar at Yale in the academic year 1982-83. Wiesel was personally acquainted with Yale earlier through Professor Geoffrey Hartman, due to Hartman’s focus on literature and Judaic Studies, and the Holocaust Survivor’s Film Project (HSFP), a New Haven grassroots endeavor with which Hartman became involved in 1979. Wiesel actively promoted the HSFP. He urged survivors to share their stories so they and their loved ones would not only be remembered in perpetuity, but [...]
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