Survivors on Schindler's List: Introduction
I’ve wanted to study the impact of films or other mediations of the Holocaust on survivor narratives, and the VHA makes this possible in a singular way: its database indexes when interviewees discuss films in general and one film in particular: namely, Schindler's List. (Though the only individual film indexed on the VHA, it is not the only film mentioned in interviews). The VHA database reveals that 103 interviewees mention Schindler's List at some point in their interviews. All but one are Jewish Holocaust survivors. The majority—65—are in English, 12 are in Hebrew, 7 in Russian, 6 in Spanish, with another 13 in 5 other languages. Of the 102 Jewish survivors, 21 were on Oscar Schindler’s list, so-called Schindler Jews.
The 102 interviews constitute a small percentage—about .2%--of the VHA’s total number of Jewish survivor interviews. These interviews and the context of their creation provide an opportunity to hear how a considerable number of survivors directly reference a film—the same film— within 5 years of its premiere, in the course of telling their personal histories, all recorded according to the protocols of the same project. This is a remarkable body of material to examine to address the larger topic at hand.
The English-language interviews, some of which are examined here, include survivors then living in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. These survivors discuss Schindler's List in one of two places (sometimes both) in their interviews: either during accounts of the war years (this is especially true of Schindler Jews) or toward the very end of the interview, when, according to VHA protocols, survivors are asked general, “reflective questions” including “questions concerning faith and meaning, dreams, and messages to future generations.”
First path: Survivors on the content of Schindler's List
Second path: Survivors on watching Schindler's List
Third path: Schindler's List epiphenomena
The 102 interviews constitute a small percentage—about .2%--of the VHA’s total number of Jewish survivor interviews. These interviews and the context of their creation provide an opportunity to hear how a considerable number of survivors directly reference a film—the same film— within 5 years of its premiere, in the course of telling their personal histories, all recorded according to the protocols of the same project. This is a remarkable body of material to examine to address the larger topic at hand.
The English-language interviews, some of which are examined here, include survivors then living in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. These survivors discuss Schindler's List in one of two places (sometimes both) in their interviews: either during accounts of the war years (this is especially true of Schindler Jews) or toward the very end of the interview, when, according to VHA protocols, survivors are asked general, “reflective questions” including “questions concerning faith and meaning, dreams, and messages to future generations.”
First path: Survivors on the content of Schindler's List
Second path: Survivors on watching Schindler's List
Third path: Schindler's List epiphenomena
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