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. Search

eBook

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 excerpts from victims of the Holocaust recorded in 1946 by Boder in the displaced persons (DP) camps with a state-of-the-art wire recorder. 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. A hybrid publication with various components bringing together survivors’ testimonies, digital history, computer science, philosophy, and personal memory. Learn More

Critical 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 More

Vlock 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 More

Songs 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 More

Publications

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 More

Podcast

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 More

Edited 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

Events

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. Watch

Vlock 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 More

Events

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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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 Watch

Events

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. Watch

Songs 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 Watch

Songs 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. Watch

Songs 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. Watch

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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. Watch

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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. Watch

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen

Songs 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. Watch

Podcast

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. Listen
           

News & Events

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Permission to Publish

Permission to Publish from the Archive

Permission is required to publish quotations from testimonies in articles, conference papers, and other works. Request Permission

Licensing 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 Licensing

Publication Database

Publication Database

Find texts that cite testimony, and obtain links to the original recording. A perfect resource for teaching seminal texts, such as Lawrence Langer's Ruins from Memory. Explore Publications