Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust Now Online

The Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust collection is now fully armed & operational at the website of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

The genesis of the project goes back to 1974 when WHS archivist Barbara Kaiser found herself frustrated with the then-current books giving oral accounts of the Holocaust. Seven years later interviews wrapped up with survivors who took up residence here in the Land of Cheese and witnesses from our fair state. Previously one had to go the Historical Society to listen to the tapes or get by with Remembering the Holocaust, a book which excerpted a small percentage of these interviews.

Now, every word from the 22 survivors and 2 American witnesses is available online. Transcriptions are available as downloads as PDF documents and the audio can be downloaded as well or listened to via inline players.



While there are many websites collecting the oral histories of Holocaust survivors, Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust present interviews in full and they include information about the subjects' lives both before and after their experiences. I believe it is also the only one to have a narrow regional focus.

Hopefully more such comprehensive collections will make their way online soon.

EDIT: Corrected # of survivors interviewed.