Visual History Archive

TOPIC: Jewish survivor describes being saved by Oskar Schindler

Rena Finder, interview code 21482

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "People"
2. in the search form below enter First Name: Rena; Last Name: Finder
3. Select " Apply"
4. Click Rena Finder’s image icon or her name
5. Click on ‘Find’ below the video and Type "Oskar Schindler"

6. Select Segment #28

TOPIC: Jewish survivor describes painting a mural on a wall in the children’s barracks

Dina Gottliebova Babbit, interview code 46112

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject"
2. In the Find Term box, type: children,’ select ‘camp children’ from list of results
3. Then type: ‘drawing,’ select ‘fine arts’ from list of results;
4. In the drop down menu on the right select “in Segment”
5. Click « Apply »
6. In Dina Gottliebova Babbit testimony play Segment #4

TOPIC: Jewish survivor describes his escape from forced death march in Bavaria

George Ginsburg, interview code 19596       

1.  In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject" 
2.  In the Find Term box, type: ‘escapes,’ select ‘forced march escapes’ 
3. Type: ‘Bavaria, ’select ‘Bavaria (Germany: State),’ 
4. In the drop down menu on the right select “in Segment”
5. Click « Apply »
6. You will display 18 testimonies witnessing this experience as George Ginsburg            

TOPIC: Survivor of the Nanjing Massacre describes the Japanese invasion of China in 1937

Shuqin Xia, interview code 52121

1. In the  Experience drop down menu select Nanjing Massacre Survivor
2. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject" 
3. In the Find Term box, type “Japanese invasion” and select “Japanese invasion of China, (July 1937)”
4. Click « Apply »
5. You will display 29 testimonies witnessing this experience and among these the testimony of Shuqin Xia

TOPIC: Rwandan Tutsi survivor recounts being humiliated at school in his childhood

Kizito Kalima, interview code 52028

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject 
2. In the Find Term box, type ‘humiliation’ and select it from the list
3. Then type ‘school anti-Tutsi prejudice’ and select it from the list
4. Click « Apply »
5. You will display 3 testimonies witnessing this experience 
6. Choose Kizito Kalima’s image icon or name and play Segment #36

TOPIC: Rwandan Tutsi survivor describes the death of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana in Kanombe and the beginning of the genocide

Live Wesige, interview code 52025

1. Go to Places Search
2. Under Locations select ‘Africa,’ then select ‘Rwanda,’ then select ‘Kigali (Rwanda)’
3. Scroll down and select ‘Kanombe (Kigali, Rwanda : Commune),’ then click ‘Select Location,’ then click ‘Next’
4. Choose Live Wesige’s image icon or name and play Segment # 67

TOPIC: Armenian survivor describes Ottoman gendarmes breaking into Armenian homes and the killing of men and a boy disguising as a girl to save his life.

Samuel Kadorian, interview code 53282

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject”
2. In the Find Term box type: ‘’Ottoman gendarmerie” and select it from the list
3. Then type  “gender deceptions” and select it from the list
4. Click « Apply »
5. You will display 5 testimonies witnessing this experience 
6. Play Samuel Kadorian’s Segment #14

Other Content – Social and Political Issues

Because many of the interviews cover events before and after the mass violence event that is the focus, there are other interesting subjects users can research when using the Visual History Archive.  Below are some examples.

TOPIC: Mixed Marriage

Mixed marriages and attitudes about mixed marriages are a subject that cuts across several of the incidents of mass violence including the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Armenian Genocide, and the European Holocaust. There are more than 2400 testimonies with relevant content. Related index terms include "Mischlinge 1. Grades", "Mischlinge 2. Grades", "Mischlinge", "Mischlinge" prisoners, attitudes toward mixed marriages, Hutu-Tutsi marriages, and Jewish-gentile marriages.

Ayfer Unsal, interview code 53484

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject”
2. In the Find Term box type: “mixed marriage” and select “attitude towards mixed marriage” from the list
3. Filter by Language:  English
4. Filter by Experience group Armenian Genocide
5. Click « Apply »
6. Play Ayfer Unsal’s segment #16.

TOPIC:  The History of the Soviet Union

The history of the Soviet Union - and the Holocaust in the occupied Soviet Union in particular - is one of largest subjects in the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive, discussed in over 12,500 interviews that include 7,175 in Russian and 304 in Ukrainian. Between 1995 and 1999, USCSF undertook a major effort to record testimonies in the former Soviet Union—including 3,427 interviews in Ukraine, 677 in Russia, and 246 in Belarus—with interviewees who were often still living in the same location as they had before and during World War II. Other survivors from the former Soviet Union were interviewed in Israel, the United States, Germany, and elsewhere.

There are more than 13,000 interviews that discuss experiences in the Soviet Union.

Attitudes towards Joseph Stalin

Harry Baikowitz, interview code 54591

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject”
2. In the Find Term box type: “attitudes towards Joseph Stalin” and “ Jewish resistance fighters”
3. In the drop down menu at top right select “in Testimony”
4. Filter by Language:  English
5. Click « Apply »
6. Play Harry Baikowitz’s segments #20 and #21

Ukranian Famine

The prewar lives of those born in the areas of Ukraine that had been in the USSR and those born in the areas that had been in Poland were substantially different. By the time World War II started, the over 4,500 interviewees born in the Ukrainian Republic of the USSR had already experienced the ravages of collectivization and “dekulakization,” the 1932-33 Famine (discussed in over 700 interviews), massive restrictions on religious life, and the wave of Stalinist political repressions known as the Purge. All of these events are described significantly in the archive’s interviews.

Sonya Perl, interview code 50110

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject”
2. In the Find Term box type: the term “Ukrainian Famine” and select “Ukrainian Famine (1932-1933)” from the list
3. Then type « cannibalim » and select this term from the list
4. Click « Apply »
5. You will display 23 testimonies witnessing this experience and among these the testimony of Sonya Perl

TOPIC:  Interreligious relations: Muslim and Jews Communities in Contemporary Antisemitism

Islamic identity is another subject that is in many of the mass violence events (Armenian Genocide, European Holocaust, Contemporary Antisemitism, Central African Republic, and Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda)

Herschel Gluck, interview code 56901

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select "Subject”
2. In the Find Term box type the term: “Muslim Communities” and select it from the list
3. Then type the term: “Jewish Communities”
4. Filter by experience group:  “Contemporary Antisemitism”
5. Click « Apply »
6. Play Herschel Gluck’s segments #68 #77 #88 #90

TOPIC:  Jews in China

Hongkew was an area designated by Japanese authorities in Shanghai to house stateless Jewish refugees who had arrived in Shanghai from Germany and German-occupied areas of Europe from 1937-1942. The area was established on February 18, 1943. When the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945, there were approximately 17,000 Jews living in Shanghai (discussed in more than 400 interviews). The Shanghai ghetto was liberated with the arrival of an American goodwill mission on September 3, 1945.

Ernest Glaser, interview code 53139

1. In the search drop down menu on the top left select “Places”
2. In the Find Term box, type: ‘Shanghai,’
3. Select ‘Hongkew (Shanghai, China : Ghetto)’ from the list
4. Click ‘Apply’
5. You will display 406 testimonies talking about this place
6. You can play testimony #1, Ernest Glaser, and play Segment #310

Sample searches courtesy of USC Shoah Foundation and ProQuest.

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