"Witness: Voices from the Holocaust," a documentary that weaves together the life stories of 19 survivors who recounted their experiences for a Yale video-testimony project, will be aired nationally on PBS on Monday, May 1, in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A preview screening of the award-winning film will be held on Thursday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall St. A discussion and reception will follow the film. The event is free and open to the public.
"Witness" is based on videotaped testimony collected by Yale's Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, the world's first such project.
The 86-minute color film has been screened at film festivals nationwide and has won numerous awards, including the Gold Medal at the Flagstaff International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Nassau Independent Cinema Expo, Best Social Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, and the Bronze Medal from the National Educational Media Network.
Lawrence L. Langer of Simmons College, a historian of the Holocaust, says the film has "a narrative authenticity rarely encountered in the media," and called the documentary "an original contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust."
The School Library Journal notes the work "should be used in every class which is studying the Holocaust."
In conjunction with the release of the documentary, the Fortunoff Video Archive has published a companion book, also titled "Witness: Voices from the Holocaust" (The Free Press). The book weaves a single narrative out of the first-person accounts of 27 witnesses, including Jews and non-Jews, American prisoners of war, soldiers who liberated the camps, a member of the Hitler Youth, a Jesuit priest, resistance fighters and child survivors. The book incorporates experiences in the ghettos, concentration and death camps, as well as liberation and post-liberation challenges.
Since 1979, Yale has videotaped interviews with more than 4,000 Holocaust survivors. The collection, curated by archivist Joanne Rudof, is housed in Sterling Memorial Library.
Connecticut Public Television, the Yale Film Society, the Slifka Center and the Fortunoff Video Archive are sponsoring the preview screening.
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