Shoah Foundation Institute University of Southern California 2008 collegec/vhi/

1. A Digital Video Archive:Educating Youth, Reaching the Public, and Preserving the Memory of the HolocaustExperiences so far Shoah Foundation Institute University of Southern California 2008 http://college.usc.edu/vhi/

2. Why use visual history? • Interview as a unique source of data • Structure similar to a spontaneous testimony • USC SFI: Quantity and scope brings new quality Kurt Thomas (Ticho) Born Apr 11, 1914 in Brno Theresienstadt – Piaski – Trawniki – Sobibor

3. Why use visual history? • Could be combined with existing data sources • Current state of the world and reflection of history • Holocaust and Jewish themes overload, atrocity obsession In schools: • Pupils today • Teachers today • Technology today The effect: • Face, emotions • Individualization of big history breaks stereotypes • Next best thing to having an eye witness in the classroom • Local language, locations, situations • Potential for controlled interactivity • It is not only the Holocaust that could be taught

4. Why use visual history? • With proper context and mediation, a video testimony can • Exemplify the human story • Tell what happened to individuals, families, communities • Help localize history • Provide information that is often not found in other sources • Can be an effective way to help students see others like themselves • Enable students to connect with history • Raise issues that adolescents confront in their daily lives: fairness, justice, individual responsibility, etc. • Inspire students’ dialogue about their own role in the society

5. Why use visual history?

6. Visual History as an educational raw resource General issues • The main advantage of witness testimony is also its biggest disadvantage: - personal narrative, full of purely personal opinions, personal event recollections, and personal emotions - history of those who survived, those who decided to speak, those who were reachable, geography and language limitations • Need to verify data and facts • Need to evaluate the content and its “usability” for our purpose - there may be statements in the interview that could actually backfire

7. Visual History as an educational raw resource Classroom issues • Taped testimony is not a living human being • Horrors… • No student should feel guilty about what happened 60+ years ago • We learn history to take responsibility for the future (and see what was wrong) • Manage the time, allow time for processing, do not end abruptly • Allow for a range of reactions • Do not leave questions unanswered

8. Visual History as an educational raw resource Location specific issues • Local Stereotypes, image of the Jews • Role of the Jews, real or imagined, in local history • Local history of the Holocaust, differences from the usual media image • Actions of the local population during the Holocaust, and approaches to talking about it - from total silence thru denial to full admission • Need to address the issues, not silence the questions • Pick the appropriate education approach (Topical, Thematic…)

9. Visual History as an educational raw resource • “Kristallnacht” (The November Pogrom) • Deportation from X • Sobibor uprising • The Olympics of 1936 • Persecution of Sinti and Roma in the Czech-run camp of Lety A topic is historical, geographic, or experiential in nature A theme, or a concept is a basic, general idea which lends itself to discussion in multiple contexts • Responsibility • Belief • Tolerance • Identity • Resistance • Totalitarian regimes and propaganda

10. Visual History as an educational raw resource Edith Frank Born Oct 23, 1925 in Vienna Refugee (Munich, Germany – Paris, France – New York, US) Irmgard Breyer Born Jul 25, 1929 in Insterburg Ghetto Theresienstadt

11. Visual History as an educational raw resource • Who is the audience? • What is the best way to reach the audience? What stereotypes may exist and affect our work? • How much time does the teacher have? • Will the teacher build upon a lesson/program that already exists? • What is the theme/topic? How much localized it shall be? • How can the teacher connect it to the contemporary events? • What relevant practical skill do we want to teach?

12. Experiences so far: • The Visual History Pilot Program – a grass roots based initiative to return the testimonies where they were collected, probe local potential and resources, and encourage the creation of local educational products • Currently active in: Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Italy, Russia and Belarus • Partnerships in Poland and Ukraine • Tolerance education, Human rights issues x historical documentation • Dealing with local stereotypesand local sensitivities seems to be the key

13. The Stereotype • Everybody has certain stereotypes, and judges the world according to them • It is mostly impossible to delete these stereotypes from a human mind, but one should be made aware of them • Tolerance and judgment of individuals as such is an acquired skill, human nature favors grouping, stereotyping and constant struggle with “others” • Stereotypes may be both negative and positive, towards the “others” but also regarding “us” • To teach about stereotypes we must be aware of the stereotypes prevailing among the audience

14. The Stereotype Jan Karski (Kozielewski) Born June 24, 1914 in Lodz Rescue and Aid

15. The Jewish Stereotype This answer is not completely correct This answer is not completely correct What is a Jew? This answer is not completely correct This answer is not completely correct This answer is not completely correct

16. Lisa De Curtis Born Sep 17, 1920 in Vienna Refugee to Ljubljana, arrested, Ravensbrueck

17. The anti-Jewish stereotypying… • The Church • Jews as evil capitalists, moneylenders, monopolists and oligarchs • Jews as Communists • Jews as a race • Jews as a Nationality, visiting foreigners • Zionism, Israel, Palestine • Stereotypes about the Holocaust and Holocaust education • Holocaust denial and the potential of Visual History to shatter it: • Who are the real Jews, what are the stories of their lives • Pre-war life, religion, social status, politics, integration • Context • People are individuals, not fitting the stereotypical vision

18. Jewish history as an integral part of European history… Morris Venezia Born Feb 25, 1921 in Salonika Haidari – Birkenau – Mauthausen – Ebensee

19. Stereotypes about the Holocaust • Enough of that, we know it all. • So many people died, why are the Jews special? • It happened in Poland, or in Ukraine, but not here. • The Germans did it, we only tried to help and save the Jews. • This is a Jewish thing for the Jews, why should we care? • They did not fight, we did. • They brought it upon themselves, by not being like us. • The role of the Church • Missing context, media manipulation, propaganda

20. Stereotypes about the Holocaust • Enough of that, we know it all. bypass the usual „icons“,different, interesting • So many people died, why are the Jews special? scope, level, legal status and definition, almost succeeded • It happened in Poland, or in Ukraine, but not here. local testimony about local places • The Germans did it, we only tried to help and save the Jews. range of reactions, and their rationale • This is a Jewish thing for the Jews, why should we care? part of local history, we were next, defined by law, not self • They did not fight, we did. resistance and its context • They brought it upon themselves, by not being like us. pre war. levels of integration, or not integration. assimilation. • The role of the Church scope of reactions. humans are individuals. • Missing context, media manipulation, propaganda survivors as individuals.

21. Central and Eastern Europe: urgent need to battle the residues of both Nazi and Cold War (both Communist and anti-Communist) propaganda. Interviews in local languages…

22. End of the war is not the end of the story David Landau - Jan Cigelski Born Mar 15, 1920 in Warsaw Warsaw ghetto - Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy Warsaw uprising of 1944

23. Holocaust denial: Secrecy and denial as an integral part of the Final Solution Morris Venezia Sonderkommando