The corpus of knowledge of any historical event is consolidated by combining many sources of different types; primary and secondary sources, oral and written. This course will examine different sources used in historical research, in particular used in research and writing about the Shoah. The course will examine the use of documents from the time: documents and diaries, and those created after the event - memoirs and oral histories. This second part of the course will focus on the dynamics of survivor testimony. Since the close of World War II there have been testimonies of Holocaust survivors, witnesses and, in rarer cases, rescuers. Many of early testimonies after the war were incorporated in trial proceedings and commission reports; other testimonies were preserved in archives. This course seeks to trace the development of Holocaust survivor testimony collections over time. It will examine the survivors' motivations and inhibitions to retell their stories and the use and challenges of these oral sources in the writing of history, education and commemoration.
- Teacher: Sharon Kangisser-Cohen