In the reading rooms of the German National Library, over 50,000 interviews from the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive can be researched and viewed. The collection has recently been expanded to include 182 accounts from survivors and witnesses of the October 7 Attack in Israel 2023.
The interviews conducted regarding 7 October 2023 are part of the USC Shoah Foundation’s “Contemporary Anti-Semitism Collection“. In this collection, the Institute documents the experiences of people who have been affected by antisemitism since 1945. The recorded interviews preserve the personal experiences and perspectives of eyewitnesses and serve as important sources for addressing contemporary forms of antisemitism.
With this expanded collection, the German Exile Archive at the German National Library is continuing its “Digital eyewitness testimonies“ initiative. This includes both interviews from its own holdings and access to collections held by other institutions, such as the “Archiv der Flucht“ compiled by Carolin Emcke and Manuela Bojadžijev, and the interviews from the USC Shoah Foundation.
Eyewitness testimonies provide a personal insight into history. They bring individual life stories and experiences to life and raise awareness of persecution, exclusion and violence. By making these sources accessible and conducting its own interviews, the German Exile Archive supports research into them and encourages engagement with them – both today and for future generations.
The German Exile Archive at the German National Library is also cooperating with the USC Shoah Foundation on the “Frag nach! Just ask“ project. Two digital interactive testimonies from Holocaust survivors have opened up a new way of engaging with eyewitness accounts.
“Digital eyewitness testimonies“ Collection of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 at the German National Library https://www.dnb.de/EN/eywitnessesinterviews
Reports from survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attack in Israel: https://d-nb.info/dnbn/1420639307
“Frag nach! Just ask“ Digital interactive interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier: https://www.dnb.de/EN/Kulturell/Fragnach/fragnach.html
The German National Library collects, documents and archives all written publications and sound recordings issued in Germany since 1913 together with works in German and about Germany published worldwide; it then makes them available to the public. It offers a comprehensive range of services at its sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world. It regularly organises readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts to draw attention to its treasures and promotes a culture of books, reading and music with a diverse programme of events.
The German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 is a platform for discussing the subjects of exile and emigration during the Nazi era. Co-founded by exiles in the early post-war period, the archive also sees itself as a place of political enlightenment. Through exhibitions, events and publications, it explores the diverse experiences and forms of expression associated with exile, thereby building bridges from the past to the present.
The USC Shoah Foundation was founded more than 30 years ago with the aim of recording and preserving the voices of Holocaust survivors and ensuring that their testimonies are never forgotten. The Visual History Archive provides access to over 60,000 interviews with eyewitnesses in 45 languages from 69 countries, conducted by the USC Shoah Foundation and, in some cases, contributed by partner institutions. It is the world’s largest collection of interviews on the Shoah and the Nazi policy of extermination. Since moving to the University of Southern California in 2006, the USC Shoah Foundation, in cooperation with its partners, has also been documenting the voices of survivors and eyewitnesses of other genocides, as well as of crimes against humanity and related persecution.