In observance of Yom HaShoah, the day of Holocaust Remembrance (April 28, 2022) marked each year on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Special Collections invites you to stream video testimonies of Holocaust survivors held in the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona videocassettes (MS 667).

These nine recordings were conducted by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 and Yale University Library’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies in 1990.

In 2019, Special Collections partnered with the Fortunoff Video Archive Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University Library to become an access site, allowing patrons to stream all digitized testimonies from the Fortunoff Archive at a dedicated computer in the Special Collections Reading Room.

Patrons may also stream the testimonies from the Fortunoff Archive remotely using the UArizona’s VPN client.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) allows testimonies in its collections to be viewed freely at the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive website. The two testimonies conducted in partnership with the USHMM may be viewed there.

The testimonies held in Special Collections include the experiences of Holocaust survivors across Europe and members of the resistance. Also recorded are testimonies with two passengers of the MS St Louis, a liner bound for Cuba carrying Jewish refugees from Europe. Shortly after arrival on May 27, 1939, the ship was turned away from Cuba, then the United States, and finally Canada. Its more than 900 passengers returned to uncertain futures in Europe.

To learn more about the testimonies and how to access them, visit the collection page for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona videocassettes (MS 667).