UNV 100: Never Again? Holocaust & Genocide in the 20th and 21st Century

Includes more than 10,400 pages of archival materials; over 2,300 published monographs totaling more than 37,000 pages; 241 complete videos; more than 3,000 pages of reports, journal articles, and other full-text items; more than 1,000 images (most from The Getty); and nearly 700 links to vetted, important external websites.

The Visual History Archive contains 55,000 audiovisual interviews with survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides. Interviewees are primarily Jewish survivors, though the archive also includes interviews with gay/lesbian, Jehovah's Witness, and Roma and Sinta (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of eugenics policies, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, liberators, and war crimes trial participants.

Initially a repository of Holocaust testimony, the Visual History Archive has expanded to include testimonies from the following:

• 1915 Armenian Genocide
• 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China
• Cambodian Genocide of 1975-1979
• Guatemalan Genocide of the early 1980s
• 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda
• Ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic
• Contemporary acts of violence against Jews

The interviews were conducted in 62 different countries and in 41 languages and comprise the most extensive resource of its type. Each interview is fully indexed, thus allowing the viewer to search using either the assigned index terms or a free-text search. Additionally, transcripts are provided for many of the testimonies.

The Fortunoff Archive currently holds more than 4,400 testimonies, containing over 10,000 recorded hours of videotape. The Fortunoff Archive and its affiliates recorded the testimonies of willing individuals with first-hand experience of the Nazi persecutions, including those in hiding, survivors, bystanders, resistants, and liberators. Testimonies are recorded in whatever language the witness prefers, and range in length from a half hour to over 40 hours (recorded over several sessions).

NOTE: First-time users will need to create a login on Yale's Aviary platform before viewing testimonies. 

1) Go to https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/. Click on 'Log In,' and then 'Join Now.'
2) After submitting the form, you will receive a confirmation email. This is to verify you are indeed a human and not a bot. Check your spam if it doesnt show up in your inbox.
3) Return to https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/, login if necessary, and then enter a search term, such as a town name, a concentration camp, or a ghetto in the search bar at the top of the page. You can also click in the search box and press Enter to retrieve all records.
4) Click on a testimony in the search results and request access. You only need to request access to one testimony to obtain viewing rights for the entire collection. You should receive an approval email a few minutes after you make your request.
5) Once you get the approval email, refresh your browser to view testimonies.