BT天堂

The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention has access to the entire Visual History Archive and the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.

As France鈥檚 first host of the complete听听(a collection of over 55,000 testimonies in 43 languages from 65 countries of survivors and witnesses to the Shoah and the Armenian, Tutsi, Nanjing,听Guatemalan and Cambodian genocides and other events of mass violence), The American University of Paris makes this important resource available to researchers, teachers and students for the purpose of investigating and disseminating new insights into the origins of collective hatred, fundamentalist ideologies, discrimination and mass violence as well as the aftereffects of these in historical, social and individual memory.

Founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994, the testimonies are preserved in the听Visual听History Archive, one of the largest digital听collections of its kind in the world. The testimonies average听a little over two hours each in length, a vast majority of which contain a complete personal history of life before,听during and after the interviewee鈥檚 firsthand听experience with genocide.

The Visual History Archive is digitized,听fully searchable via indexed keywords, and听hyperlinked to the minute. With more than听112,000 hours of testimony stored in the听Archive, indexing technology is essential for听enabling users to pinpoint topics of interest.听

Indexing allows students, teachers, professors,听researchers and others around the world听to retrieve entire testimonies or search for听specific sections within testimonies through a听set of nearly 64,000 keywords and phrases,听1.8 million names, and 695,000 images.

Each testimony is indexed by a native听speaker and each minute of video is time coded听in English to a proprietary search engine听using Institute-patented technology.听The bulk of the video testimonies expound听on the Holocaust, including such experiences听as Jewish Survivors, Rescuers and Aid-Providers, Sinti and Roma Survivors, Liberators,听Political Prisoners, Jehovah鈥檚 Witness听Survivors, War Crimes Trial Participants, Eugenic听Policies Survivors, Non-Jewish Forced听Laborers and Homosexual Survivors. But the听Visual History Archive has expanded to include听testimonies from the 1994 Rwandan听Tutsi Genocide, the 1937 Nanjing Massacre听and the Armenian Genocide that coincided听with World War I. Plans to integrate testimonies听from other genocides, including听Cambodia and Guatemala are in development.听

Each collection adds context for the other,听providing multiple pathways for students, educators听and scholars to learn from the eyewitnesses听of history across time, locations,听cultures and socio-political circumstances.听Ultimately, the Visual History Archive forever听preserves the faces and voices of the people听who witnessed history, allowing their听firsthand stories to enlighten and inspire action听against intolerance for generations to听come.

A scholarly introduction to the history and specificities of the Visual History Archive is available in French in the journal .

The Visual History Archive is available to all BT天堂 faculty, staff and students , and to the wider community at the BT天堂 Library.

Classes that explored the archives

Science, Society and Human Origins听(Linda Martz)

Political Anthropology听(Tanya Elder)

Public International Law (Susan Perry)

International Human Rights Law (Susan Perry)

Ecole de Guerre Practicum (Susan Perry)

Provocative Witness: Cinema and Genocide (Marie Regan)

Social Memory (Brian Schiff)

Understanding Genocide (Brian Schiff)

Twentieth Century European Jewish History (Constance P芒ris de Bollardi猫re)

The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Since 2019, the George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention also has access to the complete . Initiated in 1979 in New Haven, Connecticut by a group of Holocaust survivors, what was then known as the Holocaust Survivors Film Project donated its original collection of testimonies to Yale University in 1981 and was renamed as the Fortunoff Video Archive in 1987.

The collection which started as a grassroots project currently holds more than 4,400 testimonies of victims and witnesses of the Nazi persecutions, including those who were in hiding, survivors, bystanders, members of the resistance and liberators. Testimonies were produced in cooperation with 36 affiliated projects across North America, South America, Europe and Israel. Over 12,000 recorded hours of videotape are now available in 20 different languages in a digital format on the Aviary platform. Index words, transcripts and a are among the newest technological developments of the collection. The Archive is also launching projects to display its collection: 鈥� 鈥溾�� and 鈥溾�� are for instance available online. 听听

The Fortunoff Video Archive is available to all BT天堂 faculty, staff and students through a available with their BT天堂 ID, and to the public at the library of the university.

If you have any questions regarding the archives, need help or advice with your research, or want to plan a viewing of video testimonies, please contact Kira Winter, Administrator and Communications Coordinator of the George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention: kwinteraup.edu

The outside public can view the Visual History Archive and the Fortunoff Video Archive at the BT天堂 library. Please contact Kira 24 hours before your visit.

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