British Library Holocaust recordings launched online
The testimonies now available are drawn from a major oral history programme - ; The Living Memory of the Jewish Community - which between 1987 and 2000 gathered 186 audio life story interviews with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their children. It was initiated by National Life Stories based in the BL's oral history section and funded by a number of organisations including the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, the John S Cohen Foundation and the Porjes Charitable Trust.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The moving and often disturbing testimonies of Jewish migrants and refugees to Britain, many of whom survived Nazi concentration and labour camps, are being made available online in their entirety for the first time at http://sounds.bl.uk/Browse.aspx?collection=Jewish-Holocaust-survivors. Over 440 hours of life story recordings explore 66 personal experiences of persecution across war-torn Europe and the impact of the Holocaust, covering:
Anti-Semitism before the Second World War Pre-war refugees and the "Kindertransport" Ghettos and concentration and labour camps Survival in hiding Resistance and liberation Searching for family in the aftermath Building a new life in Britain The legacy of the Holocaust Education is absolutely vital to preserving and honouring the memories of those who suffered during the Holocaust and to helping ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. As well as providing academic researchers the world over with access to valuable source material, the Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust resource will also support primary and secondary education, supplementing the study materials and lesson plans provided by the British Library's Learning team and online at http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/holocaust.html.
The testimonies now available are drawn from a major oral history programme - ; The Living Memory of the Jewish Community - which between 1987 and 2000 gathered 186 audio life story interviews with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their children. It was initiated by National Life Stories based in the BL's oral history section and funded by a number of organisations including the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, the John S Cohen Foundation and the Porjes Charitable Trust.
Rob Perks, Curator of Oral History at the British Library Sound Archive says: "These oral testimonies personalise the enormity of the Holocaust in a very direct and human way, emphasising the variety and complexity of individual experience. They also provide the broader context: that these individuals are survivors of whole communities that were often destroyed by the Holocaust, and that they have lived lives since the war. They are a cross-section of the many hundreds of Holocaust survivor accounts that we hold in the BL's oral history collection."
Ben Barkow, Director of the Wiener Library notes that, "With the inevitable passing of the generation of Holocaust survivors, the issue of how to preserve their memories for the education of future generations has become pressing. Initiatives to create sound archives and open them up to digital access are vital to this work and the British Library has made a major contribution with its Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust Collection on Archival Sound Recordings. Such primary sources will form the bedrock of future Holocaust education."
For more information and access excerpts and transcripts, please contact Ben Sanderson at the British Library Press Office, ben.sanderson@bl.uk T: +44 ( 0 )20 7412 7111 M: +44 ( 0 )78100 56848
The Archival Sound Recordings project makes a variety of music, spoken word, and environmental sounds from the British Library Sound Archive available online, and is part of the British Library’s ongoing commitment to improving access and ensuring the preservation of invaluable primary source materials for research, teaching and learning. All recordings on Archival Sound Recordings can be accessed from British Library reading rooms and are available for free to licensed UK higher and further education institutions. In addition, over 2000 recordings, including Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust, are available to the public via the website.
The British Library Sound Archive holds over a million discs and thousands of tapes. Its collections come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound from music, drama and literature, to oral history and wildlife sounds. Formats range from cylinders made in the late 19th century to the latest digital media. In addition to copies of commercial recordings issued within the United Kingdom, the Sound Archive keeps selected commercial recordings from overseas, radio broadcasts and many privately-made recordings
The catalogue includes entries for millions of recordings held in the Sound Archive and is updated daily. It is one of the largest catalogues of its kind anywhere in the world, covering both published and unpublished recordings
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This story was released on 2009-01-28. Please make sure to visit the official company or organization web site to learn more about the original release date. See our disclaimer for additional information.