Voice / Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

'Pay attention to the world around you'

stuxbury — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:57:36 +0000

'Pay attention to the world around you' stuxbury Wed, 01/18/2023 - 21:57

International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place annually on Jan. 27 — it’s the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

When a survivor spoke to ��-Dearborn’s Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive, they said, “If the oceans were ink and the skies were paper, there would not be enough ink or paper to tell of one hour in Auschwitz.”

Campus’ Voice/Vision archive, which began in 1981, has more than 250 first-hand accounts of life during World War II’s systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women and children.

History Lecturer and Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive Director Jamie Wraight understands that a multitude of voices is needed to better understand the Holocaust and knows it will never be fully covered or understood. But he continues to look for ways to bring awareness to the Holocaust, now 78 years past the 1945 liberation date.

Wraight brings experts to speak to the campus community. He does this annually for Holocaust Remembrance Day — Manhattan College’s Mehnaz Afridi will give a talk called “Muslims and the Holocaust” on Jan .24 — and finds ways to share ��-Dearborn’s archive and his decades of professional connections with Dearborn Wolverine students.

Through a Ravitz Foundation grant, Wraight recently finished creating a full-feature online experience for his “History 387: Aspects of the Holocaust” course by sharing recorded Holocaust survivor testimony from ��-Dearborn’s archive collection and bringing in renowned experts like U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Historian Rebecca Erbelding, Nipissing University History Professor Hilary Earl —who focuses on war crimes —and ��-Dearborn faculty members Kristin Poling and Anna Müller.

“There are things I am not an expert in, but there are people out there who are. I want the best information presented to the class so our students can learn about the Holocaust and analyze why this happened, how it happened and find ways they can continue to stay aware to prevent it from happening again,” he said. “Students can watch the recordings at their own pace and every week we meet in person to discuss what they’ve watched. That way they can process what they watched and come to class with any questions they might have.”

The class, previously offered once a year, will now be offered more frequently thanks to the grant. Wraight said he did a “soft opening” last semester with the new format, but considers the format’s debut this winter.

Wraight took over directing the Voice/Vision archive from Professor Emeritus Sidney Bolkosky, who was among the first researchers to interview Holocaust survivors in an effort to document their experiences.

Bolkosky, who taught on campus from 1972-2012, was a campus pioneer in remote learning — sending videos of his lectures to students in ��-Dearborn’s REACH program, a distance-learning initiative that started in the late 1980s. Wraight said some of Bolkosky’s recorded lectures are included in the 2023 course. And, to bring it full circle, the person who recorded the original Bolkosky lectures — College of Arts, Sciences, & Letters Senior Television Engineer Greg Taylor — also recorded the recent talks and lectures and helped make this new version of the class a reality.

“Greg had inside information from when some of these lectures were recorded decades ago. This evolution of the campus’ Holocaust course couldn’t have happened without his knowledge and expertise,” Wraight said. “It’s also important to say that Sid was an amazing teacher — no one could give a lecture like Sid Bolkosky. So it’s important to pay homage to his work by sharing his words and lessons in an updated way.”

As the Day of Remembrance approaches, Wraight suggested finding a talk to attend, listening to Holocaust experiences on the archive site or participating in a community event. He said it's crucial to stay vigilant and to continue seeking out information. Lessons from Holocaust education aren’t uplifting; but they are important, he said.

“Take 30 seconds out of your day to really pay attention to the world or around you. Read headlines. Ask questions,” he said. “Having a healthy dose of skepticism about the information you receive is a good thing. The more we know, the more we can rely on our knowledge to stand up to injustices we may see.”

Article by Sarah Tuxbury.

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Voice / Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Thu, 01/19/2023 - 02:56

A new full-feature online experience for ��-Dearborn’s “History 387: Aspects of the Holocaust” course — made possible by a Ravitz Foundation grant — includes recorded Holocaust survivor testimony from ��-Dearborn’s archive collection, renowned expert talks and more.

More than a history lesson

stuxbury — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 23:56:41 +0000

More than a history lesson stuxbury Mon, 01/25/2021 - 18:56

A star of David held by a student who is interested in learning about the Holocaust

Experts from around the world — from the past and today — will teach students need-to-know lessons from the Holocaust.

Through a $20,000 Ravitz Foundation grant, History Lecturer and Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive director Jamie Wraight is creating a full-feature online experience for the History 387: Aspects of the Holocaust course by using archived expert lectures, Holocaust survivor testimony from ��-Dearborn’s archive collection, internationally renowned speakers on the World War II genocide, and more. The class, currently offered once a year, will now be offered, twice thanks to the grant.

Wraight,says the class attracts students from across disciplines — art, engineering, business and health. He says part of the attraction is related to curiosity about the Holocaust. But there is also the understanding that this goes beyond learning about a past event — and awareness is important because people across culture and industry can be affected.

“This is bigger than a history class. I emphatically make the point that this is cross discipline,” says Wraight, who notes that the course is a popular choice among students and often has a waiting list. “Without the tech know-how of engineers, there wouldn’t have been gas chambers. Economic forces contributed to propaganda against the Jews and later they became economically exploited in concentration camps through slave labor. Genocide is an obvious public health concern. And there was the criminal justice angle about the involvement of the German police and legal profession, as well as what happens to the perpetrators after the war. All areas of society were impacted by this atrocity.”

To honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday, Wraight said Natalia Aleksiun, associate professor of Modern Jewish History, the Touro College Graduate School of Jewish Studies, will present, “Intimate Violence: Jewish Testimonies about the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.”The lecture will be recorded and made available to those unable to attend.

Wraight says he took over directing the Voice/Vision archive from Professor Emeritus Sidney Bolkosky, who was among the first researchers to interview Holocaust survivors in an effort to document their experiences. Through Bolkosky’s work, the Voice/Vision archive has more than 300 first-hand accounts of life during World War II’s systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women and children.

Bolkosky, who taught on campus from 1972-2012, was also a campus pioneer in remote learning — sending videos of his lectures to students in ��-Dearborn’s REACH program, a distance-learning initiative that started in the late 1980s. Bolkosky died in 2013.

“I have several DVDs of Sid’s lectures from what Sid recorded for the REACH program. He was masterful in talking about survivor testimony — he interviewed many of them before (Steven) Spielberg did — and the survivors who talked to him after remarked that they told Sid more. If our students can hear from one of the best in the field — someone who was right here on our campus — they should hear about it from him. Not only will this benefit the people taking this class, it also honors Sid’s memory.”

Wraight says Ravitz family members, who oversee the foundation, were familiar with Bolkosky’s work. And because of the reputation the ��-Dearborn archive has, they came to campus in 2019 to explore ways they could help expand Holocaust education. Several options were explored, but COVID-19 moving communal activities online helped Wraight see the value of an expanded virtual course any interested person could take from anywhere. He also says it’s a living course, which means it will be updated regularly.

“We have a highly notable archive — we have shared what we have on campus with Yale and the Holocaust Museum in Washington. D.C. — so why not make our resources available to anyone, no matter where they are? We can connect students to survivor testimonies, recognized experts from across the world and actress time,” Wraight says.

He says developing the new course is a collaborative effort. In addition to the Ravitz Foundation, the ��-Dearborn staff in the HUB for Teaching and Learning, College of Arts, Sciences, & Letters Media Studio and the Mardigian Library, as well as several ��-Dearborn faculty colleagues are bringing the project to life.

“Even during a pandemic, no one — when I asked for their time — flinched. They want to get this project ready for our students,” says Wraight, who remarked that the project is underway and will be complete by May. “My colleagues see the importance of a learning opportunity like this. The more we learn, the more we are aware of the behaviors and environment that led to this taking place.”

He says the Holocaust may be history — but cautions what is old can be made new again. He says lessons from the Holocaust education aren’t uplifting; but they are important.

“Pay attention to the world or around you. Not all people were actively persecuting the Jews. But they didn’t stop it either — they stayed in their own bubble and later regretted it,” Wraight says. “Having a healthy dose of skepticism about the information you receive is a good thing. The more we know, the more we can rely on our knowledge to stand up to injustices we may see.”

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Voice / Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Mon, 01/25/2021 - 23:54

��-Dearborn's Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive was awarded a $20,000 Ravitz Grant to expand a history course on the Holocaust.