The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

From the Director, Winter 2024

The new film, One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins as Sir Nicholas Winton, the British stockbroker who saved 669 Jewish children while on holiday in Czechoslovakia in 1939 is getting great reviews and following its US release on March 15, has been widely viewed.[1]

For many, this will be their first encounter with the story of Nicholas Winton. For the Voice/Vision Archive, Nicholas Winton is an old acquaintance, though we never met in person.

In 2005, the archive was approached by the Gelman Education Foundation to screen the documentary,  The Power of Good. The film, directed by Matej Mináč, chronicled the then somewhat hidden life of Winton, who, with the outbreak of the war in September 1939, returned to England, joined the Royal Air Force, married, raised a family and never talked about what he had done in Prague. It was only later, with the discovery of some old notebooks by Winton’s wife Grete, that the story came to light.

How or why we were chosen to screen the film was never made clear to me, but I remember that Sid Bolkosky, founder and director of Voice/Vision seemed hesitant to align the positive message of the film with the mission of the archive. Sid always seemed hesitant to look for positive messages from the Holocaust, especially when they seemed staged or contrived. I think, however that the film changed his mind, at least a little. Unlike the motivations of Oskar Schindler, whose rescue of 1200 Jews in Krakow were often morally questionable, at least at first, Winton’s actions stemmed from a genuinely altruistic impulse combined with one part English phlegm along with several parts’ pragmatic realism, summed up best by Winton, “There is nothing that can’t be done if it’s fundamentally reasonable.”

Thanks to a generous donation from the Gelman Foundation, Sid traveled to Israel in 2008 and interviewed 11 of the children saved by Winton and those interviews, along with two previously conducted ones are available on the archive’s website.

I’ve worked with the Voice/Vision interviews for almost 24 years now and have taught about the Holocaust for almost as long. Although I still share Sid’s hesitation about contrived “feel good” stories and the Holocaust, Winton’s story isn’t one of these, it stands rather as a testament to the power of true altruism and what it can accomplish.

——————————————————————————                [1]Walsh, Katie. “Review: In ‘One Life,’ a Holocaust Hero’s Story Gets the Modest Treatment He Would Have Preferred.” Los Angeles Times, March 15, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-03-15/one-life-review-anthony-hopkins-johnny-flynn-nicholas-winton.

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“Jewish Children Speak: Witnesses and Survivors.”

In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day,

 The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive presents:

“Jewish Children Speak: Witnesses and Survivors.”

A discussion with with Dr. Verena Buser, Associate Researcher Holocaust Studies Program/Western Galilee College Akko, Israel.

Dr. Buser will talk about the everyday life of Jewish children during the Holocaust, as well as other instances where atrocities were carried out against children. She will also discuss why it is important to analyze history through the eyes of children.

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WHEN: Monday, January 29, 2024

 12 pm EST.

This is a Zoom event and is free and open to the public.

Registration Required:

Dr. Buser is the author of a study about children in concentration camps and several articles on childhood during and after the Holocaust.

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A Conversation with Jonathan Freedman

Please join us on Monday, November 6 at 1 pm, when Voice/Vision Archive Dr. Jamie Wraight will be in conversation with award winning journalist Jonathan Freedman as he discuses his book, The Escape Artist. A Jewish Book Club award winner, the book tells the story of Rudolf Vrba, the man who escaped from Auschwitz and his efforts to warn the world of a truth too few were willing to hear.

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A Jewish Book Club award winner, the book tells the story of Rudolf Vrba, the man who escaped from Auschwitz and his efforts to warn the world of a truth too few were willing to hear.

This event is free and will be held virtually via YouTube and live streamed in the Janice Charach Gallery.

Please preregister at https://jccdet.typeform.com/to/RBFV75c2

Sponsors:

Platinum Day Sponsor: Ellen and Jerold Minkin

Bronze Book Sponsor: The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive.

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In collaboration with the Women’s and Gender Studies Department and Women in Leadership and Learning (WILL), we will be hosting a virtual performance and chat with the creators of The Amazing Life of Margo Heuman, a play about the first, and possibly the last, lesbian Holocaust survivor to bear testimony. We are very grateful to have Director/ co-author Dr. Erika Hughes and co-author Dr. Anna Hájková join us to share more about this incredible story.
When: Tuesday, March 15 at 12 pm EST Join here: https://umich.zoom.us/j/96464056857 Meeting ID: 964 6405 6857

Intimate Violence:  Jewish Testimonies about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe

On Wednesday January 27, Natalia Aleksiun, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History, the Touro College Graduate School of Jewish Studies, will present, “Intimate Violence: Jewish Testimonies about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.”

January 27 is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2005, it marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1945 and is commemorated by UNESCO to “pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and [to] reaffirm its unwavering commitment to counter antisemitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence.”

Please join us for this talk and commemorative event starting at 12 pm EST via Zoom:

https://umich.zoom.us/j/95908394366

This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Sponsored by the Voice/Vision Archive, The Frank and Mary Padzieski Endowed Professorship in Polish/Polish American/Eastern European Studies and our community partner, The Holocaust Memorial Center-Zekelman Family Campus.

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Hanukkah Sameach!

As we celebrate the Festival of Lights beginning Thursday, December 10th through the 18th, please remember that even though we are not able to be together in person, that we will always remain connected. Your Voice/Vision Holocaust Archive family wishes to share this blessing with you and your loved ones.

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh ha’olam, shehekheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higiyanu laz’man hazeh.

(Blessed are you Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who gave us life, sustains us, and enabled us to reach this season.)

Chag Sameach,

The Voice/Vision Holocaust Archive family  

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Gift from The Ravitz Foundation

December 2020, The Ravitz Foundation has granted the Voice/Vision Holocaust Archive support to create an online, asynchronous version of History 387: Aspects of the Holocaust. This online course offers students attending the University of Michigan-Dearborn facts on major events, people, causes, ideas and processes that led to the Holocaust. It also takes into account a wider historical context that emphasizes their connections to nationalism, totalitarianism, racism and industrialized killing as well as religious and pseudo-scientific Antisemitism.  Some of the course materials will be made available to the wider public via the Voice/Vision website and could serve as a resource for anyone interested in learning more. 

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