Yale University Library Fortunoff Video Archive
In 1979, the Holocaust Survivors Film Project, a grassroots organization based in Connecticut, started recording interviews of Holocaust survivors. Today, that archive is housed at the Yale University Library.
The Archive’s interviewing methodology stresses the leadership role of the witness in structuring and telling his or her own story. Questions are primarily used to ascertain time and place, or elicit additional information about topics already mentioned, with an emphasis on open-ended questions that give the initiative to the witness. The witnesses are the experts in their own life story, and the interviewers are there to listen, to learn, and to clarify.
The archive is available to view in person during library hours, and short excerpts are available online.