The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies is a collection of recorded interviews with witnesses and survivors of

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, located at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. Approximately 4,400 videotaped interviews are deposited with the

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new “Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 m ...

and housed in

Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library, library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Go ...

. The archive pioneered the usage of video testimonies to record eyewitness accounts of major historical events. It has served as the primary inspiration for video testimony projects documenting other state-sanctioned

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

and their aftermaths.

History

The antecedents for the establishment of the archive was a meeting between Laurel Vlock, a television journalist at

WTNH WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), ...

News 8 of Connecticut, and Dori Laub, a child

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

and New Haven psychiatrist. In May 1979, the two arranged for a professional video crew to film the Holocaust testimonies of four survivors. Recognizing the extraordinary impact of these stories, Vlock and Laub were determined to do more. They partnered with William Rosenberg, the president of the local chapter of the Farband, a

labor Zionist Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the Left-wing politics, left-wing, socialism, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist ...

organization, which had many Holocaust survivors among its members. On 28 June 1979, the Holocaust Survivors Film Project (HFSP) was formally launched.

Geoffrey Hartman Geoffrey H. Hartman (August 11, 1929 – March 14, 2016) was a German-born American literary theorist, sometimes identified with the Yale School of deconstruction, although he cannot be categorised by a single school or method. Hartman spent mos ...

, a professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, was also one of the key founding members. His wife, Renée, was one of the first four survivors taped. Shortly thereafter, Vlock received a commitment from WNEW-TV of New York City to air a documentary based on the testimonies. The resulting work, ''Forever Yesterday'', won a regional

New York Emmy Award The New York Emmy Awards are a division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honoring those in television and advanced media in the tri-state New York-New Jersey-Connecticut and New York State. The division was founded in 1955 ...

in 1980 for "Outstanding Discussion/Interview Program." By 1981, Laub and Vlock had collected 183 testimonies under the auspices of HFSP and formally deposited them at Yale University. In 1987, Mr. Rosenberg, representing the HSFP, transferred the original 183 testimonies from a deposit at Yale to a permanent donation. That year, the collection was also renamed the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, in recognition of a generous endowment gift provided by Alan A. Fortunoff, head of Fortunoff. In the 1990s, the Fortunoff Archive achieved greater international recognition. In 1990, composer

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

's piece, ''

Different Trains ''Different Trains'' is a three-Movement (music), movement piece for string quartet and Tape music, tape written by Steve Reich in 1988. Background During World War II, Reich made train journeys between New York and Los Angeles to visit his par ...

'', which incorporated soundbites from the Fortunoff testimonies, won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for best contemporary classical composition. Lawrence Langer's acclaimed 1991 book, ''Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory'', was based on the author's eight years of viewing and studying the archive's testimonies. It was named one of the ten best books of the year by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and also received the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Yom HaShoah Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah (), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (, ) and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Je ...

(Holocaust Remembrance Day) in May 2000. In February 2011,

began digitizing the Fortunoff Archive's more than 4,400 testimonies, scheduled to be completed in 2014. The professional format on which the testimonies were originally recorded is obsolete because the analog decks are no longer manufactured. Digitization is essential for preservation.

Impact

The Fortunoff Archive pioneered the usage of video testimonies to record eyewitness accounts of major historical events. Prior to the existence of the Archive, researchers relied on audio and written testimonies. The Archive has served as the primary inspiration for video testimony projects documenting the

Cambodian genocide The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's populati ...

, ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia and other crimes against humanity.

References

External links

Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies website

Fortunoff Video Archive on YouTube
{{authority control Yale University Library Holocaust historiography Archives in the United States Film archives in the United States 1979 establishments in Connecticut