Erica Emihovich recalls the Anschluss and how Austrians gathered in the streets to see Hitler and the Nazi party. She describes how fearful she felt when she saw the Nazis marching down the street and how her entire life changed after the occupation.

Leon Leyson describes working in Oskar Schindler’s factory and how Schindler treated all of his employees with such respect. This testimony clip is featured in the IWitness Video Challenge activity.

Paula Tencer describes her experiences of immigrating to the United States and the meeting of family when she arrived. Testimony clip is featured in the IWitness activity, New Beginnings – Journey to America.   

Coenraad Rood reflects on the importance of tolerance, respect and encourages younger people to always stand up to injustice.

Nanjing Massacre survivor Guixiang Chen reflects on speaking to Japanese students about her experience and the students react to her testimony.

  Ruth Brand talks about the decision to fast on Yom Kippur—also known as the Day of Atonement—in Auschwitz II-Birkenau as a form of resistance.    

Charlotte Adelman reflects on the challenge of having to learn French in school after speaking only Yiddish in her home. However, she still remembers and even sings a Yiddish song that she learned as a child.

Gerda Klein reflects on daily life while imprisoned in the Merzdorf concentration camp a subsidiary camp of Gross Rosen. She describes her forced labor making textiles and also working alongside German citizens.

Jack Pressman describes working at the Reichenau facility under false identity.

Sarah Welbel describes liberation from the Gablonz forced labor camp.

The research of these panelists sheds light on various challenges in mediating oral histories. Is it possible to mediate oral histories in an archive and respect the authenticity and nuance of individual narratives that fall into a larger narrative, for instance in an archive? Questions of translation, distortion, and interview methodology are explored to varying degrees by the work of these presenters. Is it possible to convey specific emotions across cultures, language, and identity?Chair: Karen JungblutPeg LeVine, Ph.D., Ed.D.Mark Zaurov, Ph.D.

Once events are recorded in media it becomes a challenge to control or anticipate how that media will be used. Some voices become dominant while others fade out of memory. How is a contextualized narrative produced or reconciled? How do academics make sense of media that was created with differing methodologies or research practices? The research of this panel focuses on cases that elucidate these challenges. Chair: Geoffrey Robinson, Ph.D.Stef Scagliola, Ph.D.Amy Rothschild, J.D.Viola Lasmana

As time continues to separate listeners from the recounting of events what is the role of new technology in ensuring the voices of first hand witnesses are heard? The focus of this panel is on how new media technology prompts a rethinking of approaches to remembrance. How can new media re-contextualize or enhance the experience of the listener? What new tools are available to academics? What new or unheard voices will become available?Chair: Johanna Blakley, Ph.D. Rachel Baum, Ph.D. Aya Yadlin-SegalParis Papamichos Chronakis, Ph.D.

Specific places in genocide histories occupy different psychological spaces for survivors, witnesses, and visitors. When a place is preserved, or restored for the purpose of memorialization it is inherently transformed. This panel explores various aspects of this transformation: preparation, planning, execution, and consequences. The themes of memory, identity, and narrative are investigated in the creation of exhibitions and museum spaces that are also touristic landmarks.Chair: Marianne Hirsch, Ph.D.Edyta Gawron, Ph.D.András Lénart, Ph.D.

Ellis Lewin describes the horrible living conditions including personal property seizure in the Lodz Ghetto. This tesitmony clip is featured in the IWitness activity Information Quest: Ellis Lewin.

Eva Krause reflects on being liberated from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and how the experience strengthened her faith.  

Digital Archives such as the VHA have unbounded teaching potential. The focus of this panel is on how putting such archives to pedagogical use presents unique challenges for instructors, but also innovative opportunities for students to engage with visual testimony. The panelists will explore the themes of creating a dialogue between the student and the testimony through repeated exposure, editing and understanding narratives. Chair: Todd Presner, Ph.D.Christina Isabel BrüningDJ Johnson, M.F.A.Roy Schwartzman, Ph.D.

Theodore Zev Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation Professor at Northwestern University Peter Hayes examines antisemitism and homophobia as central components of Nazi racism.

Eli Benyacar describes life in the Salonika Ghetto in Greece including the cramped apartment shared between multiple families. Eli also recalls how a Greek policeman notified his family that men were being deported to Auschwitz and helped the men in the family escape the deportations. However, the next day Eli and his brother found out that everyone including woman were deported so they returned to be deported with the rest of their family.

Helena Jonas Rosenzweig recalls arriving to Oskar Schindler’s factory in Brünnlitz after being imprisoned in Auschwitz. This testimony clip is featured in the IWitness activity IWitness Video Challenge.  

In 1942 Nazi Germany occupied the French North African country of Tunisia and implemented anti-Jewish policy. At the age of 13, Eva Boukris Weisel and her family went into hiding, protected by Khaled Abdul Wahab, an Arab Muslim. Wahab saved nearly 20 Jews by hiding them in the stables at his farm. Weisel’s testimony is from the Testimonies from North Africa and the Middle East collection.

In 1942 Nazi Germany occupied the French North African country of Tunisia and implemented anti-Jewish policy. At the age of 13, Eva Boukris Weisel and her family went into hiding, protected by Khaled Abdul Wahab, an Arab Muslim. Wahab saved nearly 20 Jews by hiding them in the stables at his farm. Weisel’s testimony is from the Testimonies from North Africa and the Middle East collection.

Julia Lentini describes the events on March 8, 1943, when the town mayor told her father that Julia's family would be deported from their home to Frankfurt for a few days. The family was deported to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. This testimony clip is featured in the new IWitness activity: The Nazi Genocide Against the Rome and Sinti (Gypsy) People.

Michael Banhidi recalls how anti-Semitism and racial discrimination spread throughout his neighborhood in Hungary.  

Paul Barna speaks on the difficulty of emigrating from Europe to Canada in 1957. He reflects on his life in Montreal including his participation in the local Jewish community.  

Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for gays in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm's assassination in June 1934.

In this clip from his testimony, Albrecht Becker recalls the circumstances of his arrest and a particular member of the Gestapo by the name of Gerun who may have saved his life.

Bella Fox recalls the terrifying experience of arriving to Auschwitz-II Birkenau from the Sighet ghetto in Romania. Bella’s testimony was collected by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre and will be integrated into the Visual History Archive part of the Preserving the Legacy Initiative.

Louis de Groot describes being hidden by different gentile families in the Netherlands during WWII. While in hiding, he attended a Christmas church service and remembers how the pastor urged the congregation to help save Jewish lives.