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Steven Spielberg's Holocaust archive arrives in UK
Academics hope emphasis on survivors' testimonies will change the way in
which war history is studied
- Vanessa Thorpe and
Lucy Fulford
- guardian.co.uk , Saturday 28 January 2012
12.14 GMT
[image: Scene from Schindler's List]
Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was the catalyst for the director's
work with the Shoah Foundation Institute. Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features
The arrival in Britain of an archive of tens of thousands of
Holocausttestimonies will
give much needed historical weight to the experiences of
survivors, according to a leading scholar.
David Cesarani, of the Holocaust Research Centre at the University of
London,
believes that the US video archive, set up 18 years ago by Steven
Spielberg,
will help to rebalance a picture that has been dominated by the study of
the perpetrators of the atrocities of the second world
war
.
The extraordinary catalogue of personal testimony, collected by the Shoah
Foundation Institute since the film director
made *Schindler's List* in 1993, is housed at the University of Southern
California, but on Friday it was formally shared with academics and
students at the research centre at Royal Holloway to mark Holocaust
Memorial Day. The archive footage, which can be viewed by members of the
public by appointment, chiefly features the memories of Jewish survivors,
but some of the 52,000 videos also tell of the experiences of other
persecuted groups, such as homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well of
those of the liberating troops.
Cesarani believes the archive facility will set British historical research
in the right context. "It is going to have a huge impact," he said. "This
is an authentic resource for British researchers and historians which will
give them access to the experiences of people who have never written
anything down. Too much of the history of the Holocaust has been about the
perpetrators. The survivors, with a few exceptions, have tended to
disappear from the scene."
Growing academic appreciation of the value of oral testimony will mean that
the archive is well used, he believes. "Historians now understand that you
don't go to an archive like this to find out exactly what happened on a
given day. It is about recovering the perceptions of the victims at the
time, and accepting there are going to be mistakes and errors," added
Cesarani.
His views are echoed by Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the USC
Shoah Foundation Institute in California. Smith and his brother James M.
Smith, founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire and the
British-based Aegis Trust. "It's a mistake to think of it as a historical
archive. It contains historical data, but it's a look at how society can
unravel and unfold," Stephen Smith said. "This is a voice of a conscience
of our age. It's there to help guide us and has a social value of
conscience which I really hope can make a difference, and if it doesn't,
we'll come to rue the day, but it won't be because the survivors didn't
warn us."
Smith first came face to face with the truth of the Holocaust in 1991 at
Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum. "I started wondering why it was that
British society hadn't dealt with that part of history." He became involved
with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute because of his Holocaust studies
and research into survivor testimony, which he sees as "the last word of
defiance". He said: "The disempowered are now empowered through their own
voices - but how prepared are we to listen?"
Smith hopes that non-specialists will also visit the archive. The USC Shoah
Foundation Institute is broadening its archive to incorporate testimony
from survivors of other genocides. It is collecting testimony in Rwanda,
where the Aegis Trust set up the Kigali Memorial Centre in 2004. This year
Rwandan and Armenian testimony should be added to the visual history
archive.
From: Baghdasarian
Academics hope emphasis on survivors' testimonies will change the way in
which war history is studied
- Vanessa Thorpe and
Lucy Fulford
- guardian.co.uk , Saturday 28 January 2012
12.14 GMT
[image: Scene from Schindler's List]
Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was the catalyst for the director's
work with the Shoah Foundation Institute. Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features
The arrival in Britain of an archive of tens of thousands of
Holocausttestimonies will
give much needed historical weight to the experiences of
survivors, according to a leading scholar.
David Cesarani, of the Holocaust Research Centre at the University of
London,
believes that the US video archive, set up 18 years ago by Steven
Spielberg,
will help to rebalance a picture that has been dominated by the study of
the perpetrators of the atrocities of the second world
war
.
The extraordinary catalogue of personal testimony, collected by the Shoah
Foundation Institute since the film director
made *Schindler's List* in 1993, is housed at the University of Southern
California, but on Friday it was formally shared with academics and
students at the research centre at Royal Holloway to mark Holocaust
Memorial Day. The archive footage, which can be viewed by members of the
public by appointment, chiefly features the memories of Jewish survivors,
but some of the 52,000 videos also tell of the experiences of other
persecuted groups, such as homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well of
those of the liberating troops.
Cesarani believes the archive facility will set British historical research
in the right context. "It is going to have a huge impact," he said. "This
is an authentic resource for British researchers and historians which will
give them access to the experiences of people who have never written
anything down. Too much of the history of the Holocaust has been about the
perpetrators. The survivors, with a few exceptions, have tended to
disappear from the scene."
Growing academic appreciation of the value of oral testimony will mean that
the archive is well used, he believes. "Historians now understand that you
don't go to an archive like this to find out exactly what happened on a
given day. It is about recovering the perceptions of the victims at the
time, and accepting there are going to be mistakes and errors," added
Cesarani.
His views are echoed by Stephen D. Smith, executive director of the USC
Shoah Foundation Institute in California. Smith and his brother James M.
Smith, founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire and the
British-based Aegis Trust. "It's a mistake to think of it as a historical
archive. It contains historical data, but it's a look at how society can
unravel and unfold," Stephen Smith said. "This is a voice of a conscience
of our age. It's there to help guide us and has a social value of
conscience which I really hope can make a difference, and if it doesn't,
we'll come to rue the day, but it won't be because the survivors didn't
warn us."
Smith first came face to face with the truth of the Holocaust in 1991 at
Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Museum. "I started wondering why it was that
British society hadn't dealt with that part of history." He became involved
with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute because of his Holocaust studies
and research into survivor testimony, which he sees as "the last word of
defiance". He said: "The disempowered are now empowered through their own
voices - but how prepared are we to listen?"
Smith hopes that non-specialists will also visit the archive. The USC Shoah
Foundation Institute is broadening its archive to incorporate testimony
from survivors of other genocides. It is collecting testimony in Rwanda,
where the Aegis Trust set up the Kigali Memorial Centre in 2004. This year
Rwandan and Armenian testimony should be added to the visual history
archive.
From: Baghdasarian