Artwork by Shiri Phillips with woven strips of paper, letters, and photographs

Testimonies

Personal recorded testimony imparts memories and experiences that shed light on the past. The testimonies and interviews collected for the Nebraska Stories of Humanities web resource allow visitors to hear Holocaust survivor and camp liberator testimonies in their own words and recollections from family and friends. The growing compilation includes testimony from individuals who lived in Nebraska and some from neighboring Midwest states. Their memories are significant in furthering personal narrative while building a Nebraska collective story.

A recent research study contends that interaction with eyewitness accounts can help students and others foster a deeper, more personal connection to the experiences of genocide victims (Kohen & Steinacher, 2020). Transcriptions accompany the testimonies and closed captioning is in process.

To learn more about the role of personal memory in history, please refer to the Holocaust Survivor Testimony guide, courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

Works Cited

Kohen, A., & Steinacher, G. (2020). From student to citizen: The impact of personal narratives in university-level genocide education. In S. Totten (Ed.), Teaching about genocide: Advice and suggestions from professors, high school teachers, and staff developers (Vol. 3, Chap. 16). Rowman & Littlefield. https://doi.org/10.32873/unl.dc.oth.009