Browse Topics/IWitness:Video Testimonies from Holocaust survivors and witnesses

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+ Anti-Jewish Laws (4)

Discriminatory laws and regulations against Jews enacted by the various governments in Europe before, during, and after World War II. One often-cited example of these are the Nuremberg Laws, passed by the German parliament in 1935. These laws stripped Jewish citizens of their political rights and became the legal basis for the racists anti-Jewish policy in Germany.

+ Antisemitism (11)

Feelings, attitudes, and acts of prejudice against Jews. Many interviewees describe their personal experiences with anti-Semitism before, during, and after World War II.

+ Auschwitz (6)

Located in and near the town of Oswiecim, the Auschwitz camp system was the largest of the concentration and death camp complexes built by the Germans in occupied Poland during World War II. The camp complex included Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Auschwitz III-Monowitz (Buna), and over 45 subcamps.

+ Bystanders (12)

People who are present at an event or who know about its occurrence without participating in it.

+ Camps (Labor/Concentration) (13)

Camps established by the Nazi regime, in which people were incarcerated without regard to due process and the legal norms of arrest and detention. The extensive German camp system included concentration camps, death camps, forced labor camps, transit camps, civilian workers camps, re-education camps, police detention camps as well as sub-camps and/or outlying commandos of camps.

+ Children (9)

Boys and girls under the age of 13.

+ Choice/Dilemma (4)

A challenging situation or problem in which at least two solutions or possibilities exist - none of which are practically acceptable. Many interviewees recount painful dilemmas they had to face due to Nazi persecution, such as sending their children away in hopes of safety and deciding whether to flee their country or stay to face persecution.

+ Civil Rights in America (3)

The set of legal rights established in the U.S. in 1964 banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin, in the workplace or public settings. Born out of the Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968), most prevalent in the South, which fought against the discrimination of African Americans, American civil rights have since expanded to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender.

+ Courage (2)

+ Daily Life (wartime) (3)

The day-to-day conditions under which individuals subsisted during World War II. For victim groups, daily life included the severe life-threatening challenges of surviving in ghettos, in hiding, and being deported to concentration camps, but it also entailed many of the same details of our daily lives: eating, working, learning, entertainment, etc.

+ Deportations (5)

Removal of people from their areas of residency for purposes of resettlement elsewhere. With regard to the Jews of Europe during the Holocaust, deportation by the Nazis meant removal to another city, ghetto, concentration camp, or extermination center.

+ Discrimination (5)

The denial of justice and fair treatment by both individuals and institutions in many arenas, including employment, education, housing, banking, and political rights. Discrimination is an action that can follow prejudicial thinking.

+ Displaced Persons Camps (2)

+ Education (6)

The organized instruction and study process by which an individual acquires knowledge. Places of instruction and study.

+ Ethics and the Holocaust (8)

The often described unfathomable tension between the discernment between right and wrong and the Holocaust; the examination of how human beings, with a moral compass, were capable of carrying out the inhumane, evil actions of genocide.

+ Faith (9)

The closely held belief or trust in the truth, validity or existence of a person, idea, or thing - not based on physical proof.

+ Family (8)

A group of people within which the adults care for the young, traditionally linked by direct blood lineage as well as co-habitation. During and after the Holocaust, families were divided, disrupted, and reconfigured due to violence and genocide. At the end of many IWitness testimonies, survivors introduce members of their families and/or show old photographs of family members who perished during World War II.

+ Fear (2)

+ Food/Hunger (5)

Pertaining to edible substances necessary for life, providing nourishment, sustenance, energy and pleasure; and the corresponding compelling need or desire for it. Many survivors recount their experiences with hunger during their internment at concentration camps and living in ghettos.

+ Forced Labor (4)

Mandatory work demanded of an individual or group, often under the threat of punishment or death.

+ Ghetto Life (9)

In Nazi-occupied Europe, Jews were forced to live in ghettos – sections of towns and cities which served as a compulsory residential quarter. German occupation authorities and their allies used ghettos to concentrate, exploit, and starve regional Jewish populations. In their testimonies, many survivors describe the conditions in these cramped quarters and recount their daily lives.

+ Hiding (5)

Concealing oneself for shelter or protection. In Nazi-occupied Europe, representatives of persecuted groups went into hiding to avoid deportation or mass execution, often with the vital help of sympathetic local population.

+ Hitler Youth (2)

+ Holocaust Denial (2)

+ Human Rights (1)

+ Humanity (9)

The quality or state of being human or humane, often referring to qualities unique to humans versus animals, such as compassion, empathy and civility.

+ Identity (7)

Referring to a person's perception of him or herself as a unique individual, usually taking into account such factors as gender, religion, family, origins, and personality.

+ Immigration (5)

The introduction and settling of new people into a habitat or population, usually to a country or place that is non-native to the individual.

+ Jehovah's Witnesses (3)

+ Justice (2)

+ Kristallnacht (2)

+ Liberation (12)

The act of freeing or being freed from the control of a foreign or oppressive government. Holocaust survivors and citizens of occupied Europe used the word “liberation” to refer to the moment they were freed from German control. Individuals and/or nations involved in the liberation are referred to as “liberators.”

+ Liberators (9)

Interviewees who participated in the liberation of concentration camps and/or entered concentration camps immediately after liberation due to assignments in or around camps.

+ Literature (2)

+ Memory (1)

+ Music (4)

An art form with a medium of sound, in the form of ordering tones or sounds in succession, resulting in an agreeable composition bearing some sort of unity or continuity. Such composite sounds may be vocal, instrumental, or mechanical to create the end result, or 'music'.

+ Nazi Ideology (1)

+ Nazi Propaganda (1)

+ Perpetrators (3)

Someone who does something that is morally wrong or criminal. In the context of the Holocaust, perpetrators are individuals who participated in forming and/or implementing the persecution-related measures or programs of the Nazis and their allies. Additionally, civilian bystanders who actively participated in the murder or torture of individuals targeted by the Nazis and their allies are also considered perpetrators.

+ Postwar Life/Return to Life (6)

Events that followed the end of World War II, explaining how Holocaust survivors began to rebuild their lives following the Holocaust.

+ Prewar Life (8)

Referring to the general way of life during the historical time period before World War II, specifically before September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland.

+ Racism (2)

+ Reflections on the Holocaust (4)

Personal observations, meditations, and words of wisdom from survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, about the meaning of their experiences.

+ Refugees (2)

+ Religion/Religious Life (3)

Living by and following a set of beliefs related to the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, usually involving the worship and devotion to a higher power, or god. In their testimonies, interviewees relate their religious practices during World War II, which they pursued despite danger of persecution.

+ Rescuers/Aid (3)

+ Resistance (7)

Acts carried out by civilians in opposition to the policies, stability, or authority of those in power. During the Holocaust, Jews exhibited cultural, spiritual, and armed resistance to the Nazi regime.

+ Responsibility (4)

A burden of obligation upon a group or individual; reliability or dependability.

+ Selection (3)

+ Stereotypes (4)

Oversimplified generalizations about a person or group of people without regard for individual differences. Even seemingly positive stereotypes that link a person or group to a specific positive trait can have negative consequences.

+ Survival (4)

Within the context of the Holocaust, survival refers to escaping death at the hands of the Nazis, their allies, and their collaborators.

+ Tolerance (1)

+ Violence (6)

The expression or act of physical or verbal force against oneself or others; the exertion of destructive force intended to abuse, injure or harm.

+ Voyage of St. Louis (3)

St. Louis was the name of a German ship carrying Jewish refugees who were not permitted to disembark in Havana, Cuba, upon their arrival on May 27, 1939. The refugees were returned to Britain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, and many were killed during the Holocaust.

+ War Crimes Trials (2)

+ Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1)

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