Watch Henry Rosmarin’s full testimony from the Visual History Archive as part of Comcast’s Days of Remembrance: PastFORWARD broadcast April 15-June 1, 2015. The sound of a harmonica usually brings to mind playfulness, joy, a sense of merriment. For Henry Rosmarin, it is also conjures the darkest chapter of his life, when his talent for music earned him favor with a Nazi commandant and kept him alive in a German concentration camp.

Levon Giridlian was born in Ottoman Empire, in Kayseri (Armenian: Kesaria) in the region of Cappadocia. Kayseri had once been a major Christian center, as attested by the numerous chapels hewn into the mountainous terrain. Although not a part of the historic Armenian highlands to the east, the county of Kayseri at the end of the nineteenth century had about 70,000 Armenian inhabitants, active in agriculture, the crafts and trades, and, among them, a significant number of regional and international merchants.

Wolf Dieter Bihl is a famous Austrian historian, with a number of published works on Austria-Hungary and the First World War. In this clip, he is touching upon two important issues pertaining to the history of the Armenian Genocide. The first is his assertion that representatives of the allies of the Ottoman Empire during the war, i.e. that other Central Powers, and Germany and Austria-Hungary in particular, reported extensively in their internal, confidential correspondence that what the Young Turk government was up to was actually a determined attempt to exterminate the Armenian race.

This brief clip reveals a number of significant points about the early stage of the Armenian Genocide (spring-summer 1915) in many areas. The first is that although one reads in memoirs and accounts of Armenians who were expecting “something bad to happen,” many, if not most, Armenian villagers believed that they were going to be relocated in a peaceful manner.

Judith Goldstein recalls music that was composed in the ghetto. She attended a music conservatory and remembers an older student composing a song. She then performs the Yiddish song on the guitar. She has translated one verse into English.

Alice Herz Sommer recalls life after the Holocaust. She discusses how she reached out to her sisters. In order to prove she was still alive, she wrote asking that they listen to her play the piano on the radio. Her sister would talk about the experience for the rest of her life.

Paula Lebovics remembers arriving to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival she was asked to sing for everyone in her block. She was nervous, but felt obliged to do so. Luckily for Paula, everyone loved her voice and afterwards she was given special privileges. She remembers getting extra rations of food that she would take back to her mother.

Roman Kent talks about the songs he would sing for resistance in camps and how these songs create a sense of community.

Kurt Messerschmidt passionatley sings a song from his childhood.

Auschwitz: The Past is Present has left Australian teacher Christine Cole with a new motto and new motivation for imparting the lessons of the Holocaust on her students.

Mihran Andonian is describing an experience that was common during the Armenian Genocide.  Some Armenian mothers, certain that they would not survive the death marches into the desert, let their children be taken by Muslims (Turks, Arabs, Kurds), hoping to guarantee survival. Other Armenian mothers on the caravans died while still with their children leaving these orphans to fend for themselves. Indeed, thousands of Armenian children were left homeless by the end of World War I and were either taken in by locals or rounded up by missionaries and brought to orphanages.

Growing up, Addison Sandoval worked in his dad’s diesel repair shop in Compton, Calif., driving and delivering parts during the summers. It was there, encountering different people and places, that he learned to appreciate the values of humility, treating people with respect, and embracing people’s differences, he says.

Celé interview, ze kterého tento úryvek pochází, můžete shlédnout v Centru vizuální historie Malach, http://malach-centrum.cz.

Celá interview, ze kterých tyto úryvky pocházejí, můžete shlédnout v Centru vizuální historie Malach, http://malach-centrum.cz.

Celá interview, ze kterých tyto úryvky pocházejí, můžete shlédnout v Centru vizuální historie Malach, http://malach-centrum.cz.

USC Shoah Foundation’s educational resource Giving Memory a Future: The Sinti and Roma in Italy and Around the World continues to make waves across Europe.

“Get angry about it”, the conclusion of this clip, presents one of Israel Charny’s most important messages.

The first 60 interviews from USC Shoah Foundation’s Armenian Genocide Collection are now safely in the hands of the Armenian Genocide Museum & Institute.

When you use indexing terms to search through USC Shoah Foundation’s first 60 Armenian Genocide interviews in the Visual History Archive, or rely on the subtitles to understand the Armenian-language interviews, think of Hrag Yedalian.

Join USC Shoah Foundation, USC Thornton School of Music and DEFY: The USC Shoah Foundation Student Association for an evening of film and music at Joyce J Cammilleri Hall.“Melodies of Auschwitz” follows USC Thornton School of Music students and USC Shoah Foundation interns Ambrose Soehn and Alex Biniaz-Harris as they compose a piano suite based on the testimonies of Holocaust survivors for the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

In the spring of 1915, the Young Turk regime of the Ottoman began a genocide against its Armenian population under the cover of World War I. This minute-long excerpt features survivor Haroutune Aivazian.  He describes the horror his mother faced when a town crier in Marash, a city in Cilcia in South West Anatolia, called for the Armenians of the community to gather in a square just outside of the town for deportation. As his mother prepared for the journey, a local Turkish man warned the family that deportation meant death.

Eight teachers who are passionate about IWitness will engage with USC Shoah Foundation in an exciting new way this summer: a three-day teaching fellowship.