Other Resources: Wiener Holocaust Library Resources
There are a number of additional testimonies in The Wiener Holocaust Library's collections, including documents, audiovisual material and unpublished memoirs. Some of the more detailed of these are listed below.
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Document Collections
Kristallnacht reports (1)
Title: Kristallnacht reports
Collection Reference: 1375
Scope/Content: This is a collection of 356 reports gathered in the weeks and months following the November Pogrom of 1938 by the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO) in Amsterdam. Most of the dated reports were created in November and December 1938; others were prepared in January and February 1939, and the remainder originated sporadically in the following weeks. The reports vary in length, from a mere 13 words to about 12,400 words. Almost all (333 or 93%) of the reports were written in German, although 18 reports are in Dutch, five in English and one in French.
These reports are available to view in full on The Wiener Holocaust Library's Pogrom - November 1938: Testimonies from 'Kristallnacht' site which includes downloadable PDFs of the original documents as well as full-text searchable English translations, contextual historical information, a detailed glossary, and links to relevant books and web resources.
Holocaust survivor interview transcripts
Title: Holocaust survivor interview transcripts
Collection Reference: 1930
Scope/Content: The transcribed life stories of Holocaust surviviors in this collection are the result of Freda Kosmin’s efforts to record and preserve the testimony of those who survived the Holocaust, paying particular attention to what they achieved after the war. There are 7 interview transcripts in total, each several pages long. The transcripts have in most cases been supplemented with information from other sources, quoted at the beginning of each transcript.
Fritz Goldschmidt: Diaries and eyewitness testimony
Title: Fritz Goldschmidt: Diaries and eyewitness testimony
Collection Reference: 617
Scope/Content: Fritz Goldschmidt was a judge in the High Court in Berlin. Shortly after the Nazis came to power, new legislation precluded him from continuing in the profession and he devoted most of his time to working for the Central Verein Deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens. This collection consists of a 288 page manuscript diary and a 71 page personal account, both of which provide valuable evidence for the persecution of German Jewry in the Third Reich.
Testimony of Jewish former residents of Russia and Eastern Europe
Title: Testimony of Jewish former residents of Russia and Eastern Europe
Collection Reference: 1251
Scope/Content: Testimonies of Jewish former residents of Russia and Eastern Europe describing experiences of persecution. All of the interviewees went to Palestine on Youth Aliyah. Little is known about their provenance or the context in which they were created.
Eyewitness testimony project
Title: Eyewitness testimony project
Collection Reference: 3000/7/2
Scope/Content: This series contains material relating to the planning and organisation of the Testifying to the Truth project and includes information regarding its administration, correspondence with those collecting and recording testimonies, and correspondence from project manager Eva Reichmann.
Audiovisual Material
The Girls Project
Title: The Girls
Authors: Ruti Frensdorf and Katherine Klinger
Format: E-resource
Barcode: grl000
The Wiener Holocaust Library conducted and recorded interviews with 14 women who survived the Holocaust as children. They were brought to the UK in 1945 as part of a group of 800 child survivors, who became affectionately known as “The Boys”. The interviews examine memories of camp experiences, and then focus on post-war life up to the present day. The testimonies are available to view at the reader terminals in the Wolfson Reading Room as edited versions with documents and photographs (approximately 30 minutes), as uncut interviews ranging in length from two to four hours, and as full transcripts.
Refugee Voices
Title: Refugee Voices: the AJR audiovisual Holocaust Testimony Archive
Editors: Anthony Grenville, Bea Lewkowicz
Format: E-resource
Barcode: ajr000
Refugee Voices is a collection of 150 filmed interviews with Holocaust survivors and refugees speaking about their experiences in Nazi-occupied Europe and transitions to life in Britain. Commissioned by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) the interviews range from two to six hours in length, more than 450 hours of film. All interviews have been fully transcribed and catalogued and both films and transcripts are time-coded, making it possible to locate specific passages with minimum effort. The interviews and supporting database are available at the reader terminals in the Wolfson Reading Room.
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
The Fortunoff Archive holds more than 4400 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors. The archive is part of Yale University and The Wiener Holocaust Library is the only institution in the UK with access to the testimonies. To view the testimonies, please follow the instructions on the Fortunoff Archive’s website and contact The Wiener Holocaust Library prior to your visit.
Unpublished Memoirs
The Wiener Holocaust Library holds an extensive collection of unpublished memoirs relating to the Holocaust, many of them written by survivors. They are searchable through our online catalogue and viewable in the Wolfson Reading Room. Below are a few examples:
My memories of the Holocaust
Title: My memories of the Holocaust
Author: George White
Shelf Reference: Unpub. Mem 4405
Barcode: 102888
...And far was justice: memories of childhood: before Auschwitz and beyond
Title: ...And far was justice: memories of childhood: before Auschwitz and beyond
Author: Harold Saunders
Shelf Reference: Unpub. Mem 4099
Barcode: 20397
How I survived the Holocaust
Title: How I survived the Holocaust
Author: Alexander Riseman
Shelf Reference: Unpub. Mem 4176
Barcode: 82608
Find More Resources
Search our Collections Catalogue to find more relevant resources across all of our collections, including books, documents, and photographs.
Relevant Subject Keywords:
- Contemporary accounts [1933-1945]
- Personal narratives
- Antisemitism
- Racial persecution