USC Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive  Tags: holocaust survivors video testimonies history  

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Click on the specific countries in the left box to learn about the VHA interviews which discuss them.

The testimonies of the Shoah Foundation Institute's Visual History Archive were recorded primarily between 1994 and 1999 in 56 countries and in 32 languages. While the majority of the interviews are with Jewish Holocaust survivors, the archive also includes the testimonies of political prisoners, Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, survivors of eugenics policies, and homosexual survivors as well as rescuers, liberators, and participants in war crimes trials.

Each interview typically follows a chronological pattern, with the interviewee discussing memories from before World War II, then wartime experiences, and subsequently life after the war. The interview concludes with the interviewee displaying photographs, documents, and artifacts pertaining to his or her family and wartime experiences. Finally, interviewees introduce family members and friends on camera. During some interviews, literary or musical works are performed or original works of art are displayed. Around 150 interviews feature walking tours, in which a portion of the interview was conducted at sites of former concentration camps, ghettos, mass graves, or in front of prewar family homes.

The interviews encompass nine different experience groups,

Jewish survivors (48,779), rescuers and aid providers (1,131), Sinti and Roma survivors (406), liberators and liberation witnesses (362), political prisoners (261), Jehovah's Witness survivors (83), war crimes trial participants (62), survivors of eugenics policies (13), and homosexual survivors (6)

32 languages,

English (24,823), Russian (7,084), Hebrew (6,301), French (1,881), Polish (1,566), Spanish (1,354), Hungarian (1,349), Dutch (1,082), German (931), Bulgarian (624), Slovak (573), Czech (566), Portuguese (563), Yiddish (560), Italian (434), Croatian (393), Serbian (378), Greek (306), Ukrainian (304), Swedish (266), Romanian (129), Danish (69), Lithuanian (45), Norwegian (34), Romani (24), Ladino (10), Macedonian (9), Slovenian (6), Flemish (5), Sign (5), Japanese (1), and Latvian (1)

and 56 countries where interviews were conducted

U.S.A. (19,837), Israel (8,454), Ukraine (3,426), Canada (2,837), Australia (2,487), France (1,668), Poland (1,434), Netherlands (1,049), United Kingdom (873), Hungary (802), Argentina (737), Russia (677), Germany (676), Slovakia (664), Bulgaria (627), Brazil (567), Czech Republic (567), Italy (418), Yugoslavia (346), Croatia (327), Sweden (327), Greece (304), Moldova (284), South Africa (250), Belarus (244), Venezuela (228), Belgium (206), Austria (189), Romania (147),  Lithuania (137), Uruguay (125), Mexico (111), Denmark (95), Latvia (79), Switzerland (70), Chile (65), Bosnia and Herzegovina (54), New Zealand (54), Norway (34), Uzbekistan (25), Bolivia (23), Costa Rica (19), Colombia (15), Slovenia (11), Ecuador (9), Estonia (9), Macedonia (9), Zimbabwe (8), Spain (7), Georgia (6), Kazakhstan (6), Ireland (4), Peru (2), Portugal (2), Finland (1), and Japan (1).