TOC

memory

testimony

recollect

record

understand

history

life stories

listen

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Oral History

Interview Guidelines

Written by

Oral History Staff

Joan Ringelheim

, Director

Oral History

Arwen Donahue

Elizabeth Hedlund

Amy Rubin

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Oral History

Interview Guidelines

Oral History Interview Guidelines

Printed 1998

Revised 2007

No unauthorized use without permission.

Requests for permission to use portions of this

document should be made in writing and sent to:

Office of Copyright Coordinator

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW

Washington, DC 20024-2126

For information about the Museum’s

Oral History Branch, contact:

Program Management Assistant, Oral History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW

Washington, DC 20024-2126

202.488.6103

For further information about

the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,

call 202.488.0400.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword i

Introduction v

I. THE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW 1

Purpose of the Preliminary Interview

Creating a Questionnaire

Providing Options for the Interviewee

Conducting the Preliminary Interview

How Much Detail?

Timing of the Preliminary Interview

Assessing the Preliminary Interview

Summarizing the Preliminary Interview

II. MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

FOR THE INTERVIEW

7

Contacting the Interviewee

Scheduling the Interview

Interview Note

T

ak

er

Individuals Present at Interview

Legal and Ethical Considerations

III.

C

ONDU

CTING RESEARCH

1

1

Set Aside Time for Research

Review Interviewee’s Experiences

Important Items to Research

Things You Can Do at Home

Visit a Library or Research Facility

Maps

Other R

esources for Locating Places

Expanding Your Search for Resources

Using the Museum’

s Resources

If You Need Clarification

Challenges

R

esearc

h List

When to Stop

IV. PREPARING QUESTIONS 21

Notes on Preparing Questions

Organizing Questions

Using Questions in the Interview

V. SUGGESTED THEMES 23

Family/Occupation/Education

Religion and Politics

G

ender

VI. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS 25

Prewar Life

The First Questions

Childhood Recollections

Nazi Rise to Power

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences

Ghettos and Transit Camps

Labor Camps, Prisons, Concentration/Extermination Camps

Hiding/Passing and Escaping

Resistance

Postwar Experiences

Liberation

Displaced Persons Camps

Emigration/Immigration

Beyond the War/Life After the Holocaust

VII. C ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW 39

Arrival at the Interview

Commencing the Interview

Open-Ended and Specific Questions

Interjecting vs. Interrupting

Non-Verbal Responses

Chronology of the Interview

Taking Breaks

P

ro

viding Historical Context

Allocation of Time in the Interview

Concluding the Interview

Post-Holocaust Interviews

Before L

eaving the Interview

Donation of Artifacts

VIII.TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

FOR

A

UDIO INTERVIEWS

47

Cassette Tapes and Batteries

Labeling Tapes

Recording Equipment

Location/Setup

Recording Level

S

tarting to Record

Tape Slating

Monitoring the Recording

Technical Troubleshooting

IX. TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

55

Studio/Location Setup

C

omposition

Lighting

Sound

Other Technical Considerations

T

ape Slating

The Interviewee

The Interviewer

X. AFTER THE INTERVIEW 59

Thanking the Interviewee

Creating Interview Finding Aids

Use and Storage of Tapes

Donating the Interview to the Museum

APPENDIX 1: Sample Preliminary Interview Questionnaire 61

APPENDIX 2: Sample Preliminary Interview Summary 75

APPENDIX 3: Sample Interviewee Overview 77

APPENDIX 4: Sample Interview Research List 79

APPENDIX 5: Selected Bibliography 81

APPENDIX 6: Guidelines for Note Taking 85

APPENDIX 7:

Style Guidelines for Transcripts 91

APPENDIX 8: Guidelines for Copy Checking Transcripts 95

APPENDIX 9: Guidelines for Authenticating Transcripts 107

APPENDIX 10: Guidelines for Writing Summaries 123

page is blank

FOREWORD

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

i

THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM is America’s

national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of

Holocaust history, and serves as this country’s memorial to the millions

of people murdered during the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution

and annihilation of European Jewry and other victims by Nazi Germany

and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Jews were the primary

victims—approximately six million were murdered; Roma and Sinti

(Gypsies), people with disabilities, and Poles also were targeted for

destruction or decimation for racial, ethnic, or national reasons.

Millions more, including homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Soviet

prisoners of war, and political dissidents also suffered grievous oppres-

sion and death under Nazi tyranny.

The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate

knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy, to preserve the memory

of those who suffered, and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the

moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as

well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.

ii UNITED S

T

ATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Chartered by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1980 and situated

adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Museum strives

to broaden public understanding of the history of the Holocaust

through multifaceted programs, including exhibitions; research and

publication; collecting and preserving material evidence, art, and arti-

facts relating to the Holocaust; annual Holocaust commemorations

known as the Days of Remembrance; distribution of educational mate-

rials and teacher resources; and a variety of public programming

designed to enhance understanding of the Holocaust and related issues,

including those of contemporary significance.

THE ORAL HISTORY BRANCH of the United States Holocaust

Memorial Museum produces video- and audiotaped testimonies of

Holocaust survivors, rescuers, liberators, resistance fighters, prosecu-

tors, perpetrators, and bystanders. The mission is to document and pre-

serve Holocaust testimonies as primary sources that will allow future

generations of students, researchers, teachers, and filmmakers to hear

and see the people who experienced, witnessed, or perpetrated the

genocidal policies and crimes of the Nazis and their collaborators. Part

of the Museum’s mandate is to produce oral histories that add to our

knowledge of all genocides.

The Museum has been collecting and producing oral histories

since 1989—four years before it opened. As of 2007, it has created an

archive of more than 9,000 audio and video testimonies, mostly in

English. Of those, the Museum itself has produced more than 2,000,

including more than 350 Hebrew-language interviews of Jewish

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

iii

survivors who emigrated to Israel, and more than 100 of Jehovah’s

Witnesses who survived Nazi persecution. Although the Museum has

focused on producing videotaped testimonies of Jewish and

non-Jewish survivors—including Polish Catholics, Roma and Sinti

(Gypsies), political prisoners, homosexuals, and members of resistance

and partisan groups—the full range of interviews includes rescuers,

liberators, postwar prosecutors of Nazi crimes, displaced persons camp

relief workers, and members of the American Jewish Joint Distribution

Committee.

The unedited audio and videotapes, which are housed in the

Museum’s Archives, serve as resources for scholars, educators, film-

makers, and the public. In addition, the Museum now has more than

100 agreements with other organizations and individuals to house their

interviews within the Museum’s Archives.

Because of their powerful impact, edited segments of some inter-

views are included in the Museum’s permanent and special exhibitions

and public programs, as well as the Museum’s Wexner Learning Center

and Web site.

With the generous support of a number of grants, the Oral

History Branch is working to further its mission in building an oral his-

tory collection that represents the breadth of Nazi persecution. Projects

supported by the grants include the production of interviews with sur-

vivors living in Belarus, Greece, Macedonia, Poland, Ukraine, the

Czech Republic (with Roma), Israel, and the former Yugoslavia; inter-

views with witnesses, collaborators, and perpetrators in Estonia, former

Yugoslavia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Nether-

iv UNITED S

T

ATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

lands, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine; the Post-Holocaust Interview

Project, which traces the lives of survivors after the Holocaust; the pro-

duction of educational videos and other resources, and transcripts of

interviews to increase accessibility of our oral history collection; and the

ongoing preservation and cataloging of the collection.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

v

“The story reveals the meaning of what otherwise would

remain an unbearable sequence of sheer happenings.

”

—Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times

The interview journey through the Holocaust, or other such tragedies,

can be a painful and difficult one. To ask survivors of the Holocaust to

tell their stories is to ask them to describe the sights, smells, and sounds

of the human destruction they witnessed; to relive the deaths of family

and friends; and to describe the stories of their own survival. It is one

of the most difficult requests one person can make of another.

Yet, the oral history interviews that result from such requests pro-

vide glimpses into the history of the Holocaust that cannot be obtained

from documents or written records. While textual documents are essential

for the study of the Holocaust, an individual’s testimony can supple-

ment those documents by providing a detailed and personal look at a

historical event that may be underrepresented or even absent from writ-

ten works.

These Guidelines provide direction in all aspects of conducting

an interview, including making first contact with a potential interviewee,

INTRODUCTION

vi UNITED S

T

ATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

conducting research and preparing questions for the interview, and

exploring technical aspects of recording interviews, both on audio and

videotape. The Guidelines also explore the intense interpersonal aspects

of the interviewer-interviewee relationship.

The interview process is an art, not a science. Although many

purposes can be served through standardized interviews, they bear little

resemblance to what we mean by an “oral history.” The oral history inter-

view is an attempt to provide a place for the interviewee to tell his or her

life story as he or she remembers it, and for the interviewer to ask ques-

tions that stimulate memory. The questions posed are very important, so

studying the subject areas in the person’s life is imperative. But the inter-

action between interviewee and interviewer can create a bond between

the two people that even ill-conceived questions cannot destroy. It is

within that bond that questions and answers flow, and that history is

revealed.

Defining an oral history interview this way creates a broad

mandate. It assumes that there is no single correct interview technique

or mode, and that different styles of interviewing are acceptable. This con-

cept of different styles can be clarified by comparing the interview

process with musical interpretation. If one listens to Horowitz,

Rubinstein, Argerich, and Guller playing a Chopin sonata, one will

hear the same piece of music, but it will sound different with each

pianist. Is one style right and the other wrong? Within certain limits,

one cannot admit to such a judgment; the issue of taste is a separate

matter. Since interviewing is an art, strategies for success must be var-

ied. Thus, the same person may give distinct, even divergent interviews

The

interview

process

is an art,

not a science.

Since

interviewing

is an art,

strategies

for success

must be

varied.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

vii

to different interviewers. The same or similar questions may produce

different answers because of the particular bond between an interviewer

and an interviewee. A variety of other circumstances also can affect the

interview—the setting, a personal difficulty, the weather. Even though

we are listening to one person’s story and trying to facilitate its telling,

the story will not necessarily sound the same on any given day, with any

given interviewer. For this reason, we maintain an expansive view of the

interview process to take advantage of these variables.

This is not to say that there are no limits or boundaries. For

example, an interviewer ordinarily should not argue with an interviewee.

Although interviewees make mistakes, it is not the role of interviewers

to correct them during interviews. Interviewees may say things that

stimulate conversation, but a conversation is not our aim. Rather, our

aim is to listen. Nevertheless, such limits should not constrain probing

questions when answers are too minimal, confusing, or even seem

mistaken, or when the interviewer thinks a question is necessary.

There is certain basic information that should be included in

each oral history interview that makes it accessible and usable for the

listener. Interviewers should not become so engrossed in the interview

process that they forget to ask for specific dates, names, and locations

that help place the interviewee’s experiences in historical context.

Genuine listening means that the interviewer hears the contours

of the story as it is being told. Often, important subjects in an inter-

viewee’s story are only hinted at; the interviewer must keep a constant

watch for these hints. The interviewer guides the interview, but does

not direct it. The interviewer is a facilitator of the interview, but does not

viii UNITED S

T

ATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

manipulate it. This is not a place for ego to be exhibited; interviewers

should not use the interview to prove their knowledge. Comfort with

long silences is crucial to the listening process, and the timing of ques-

tions often requires the interviewer to sit through the silences of the

interviewee’s internal dialogue.

Because the content of these interviews is often tragic and terri-

fying, learning to listen also means that the interviewer needs to discern

his or her own fears. We sometimes intuitively want to protect ourselves

from what interviewees have to say. However, we must learn to listen to

everything about which the interviewee is able to speak. We must be

able to ask about everything in a way that invites response. This means

that difficult questions usually should be posed in a simple, straightforward

way. If we expose our fears by asking questions emotionally, people

often will respond to that emotion in an attempt to protect us, rather

than to answer the question we have posed. Therefore, we must respect

the interviewee’s limits, but not allow our own limitations to restrain

the stories that interviewees can tell us.

As interviewers, we travel with the interviewee. We try to see

more than the mere representation of the interviewee’s experiences. We

attempt to sit within the person’s story as if nothing else exists, and we

try to understand. We try to understand from the inside as if we were

there—much like the musician playing a piece of music. But we are

always outsiders, even while we share an intimacy with the interviewee.

It is important to balance our ability to listen empathetically with our

ability to listen carefully and critically.

Comfort

with long

silences is

crucial to

the listening

process.

As interviewers,

we travel with

the interviewee.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

ix

These Guidelines are intended to be used as a reference through-

out the interview process. They may be useful to the individual who

plans to conduct only a few interviews, to the newly established orga-

nization interested in initiating its own oral history project, or to the

already established organization looking for new insight and methods for

conducting oral history interviews. The Guidelines focus more on

preparing for and conducting the interview than on preserving it

archivally; however, we cannot overemphasize the importance of proper

post-production treatment of the interview (storage, preservation, cata-

loging, etc.). See Chapter X, After the Interview, for more information.

The Guidelines were originally created for the Oral History

Branch’s own interviewers, and often make specific references to

resources available for public use at the United States Holocaust

Memorial Museum. However, they also provide general advice that can

be applied to a wide variety of oral history projects, particularly those

with a Holocaust or genocide-studies orientation. They also provide

suggestions for finding resources in other libraries and resource centers.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

1

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Chapter Overview

Purpose of the Preliminary Interview, 2

Creating a Questionnaire, 3

Providing Options for the Interviewee, 4

Conducting the Preliminary Interview, 4

How Much Detail?, 4

Timing of the Preliminary Interview, 5

Assessing the Preliminary Interview, 5

Summarizing the Preliminary Interview, 5

The Oral History Branch gathers names of potential interviewees from a

variety of sources. From these referrals, we elicit more information pri-

marily through the preliminary interview. Preliminary interviews often

are conducted by volunteers, who use a questionnaire as a guide to

ensure that no basic information is neglected. These preliminary inter-

views usually are conducted over the telephone. After each is

completed, the interviewer writes a summary of it, based on the

questionnaire and notes taken during the interview.

Preliminary interviews serve a variety of purposes. They help us

determine with whom to conduct full-length recorded interviews; they

provide an outline of the interviewee’s experiences on which research

for the full-length interview is based; and they provide at least a basic

summary of the interviewee’s experiences for future use in the event

1

I. THE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Purpose

of the

Preliminary

Interview

that we are not able to follow up with a full-length interview. The inter-

viewee receives a copy of the typed preliminary interview summary, and

is asked to check it for accuracy.

After the telephone interview is completed, the file goes to the

Director of Oral History, who decides whether or not to conduct a

formal interview with that person. The Oral History Branch has

established some interview priorities, which are subject to change as

the representation in our collection changes.

In general, we look for persons who have compelling or interesting

stories. Clarity of memory and the ability to relate one’s experiences in a

coherent narrative often will take precedence over any priority list. At the

same time, if a person’s ability to tell his or her story is less than perfect, the

historical importance of a story may take precedence. Since we are limited

in the numbers of interviews we can do per year, we must use some cri-

teria for the choices we make, even though the criteria need to be flexible.

An essential par

t of the pr

eparation for a full-length, r

ecorded interview is the

preliminary interview (unless there already exists some detailed material about

the interviewee’s experiences, such as a written memoir). The information gath-

ered at the preliminary interview often is the basis for all other interview

preparation.

Most oral history projects cannot interview everyone who wishes to

be interviewed. Thus, another primary function of the preliminary interview

is to gather sufficient information to determine whether or not a full-length

video or audio interview should be conducted.

The aim of the preliminary interview is different from that of the

full-length recorded interview. The purpose of the preliminary interview is to

create an outline of the interviewee’s story. This limits the scope of a prelimi-

nary interview in comparison with a full-length interview. In a sense, the

2 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Creating a

Questionnaire

preliminary interview is designed to be more clinical than the full-length

interview. For example, a questionnaire is very helpful for use in a preliminary

interview to guide the discussion and to ensure that the basic information has

been covered. Conversely, such a standard set of questions usually is not used

in a full-length interview. Rather, individualized questions are formulated

based on the preliminary interview information. The full-length oral history

goes into much greater depth and detail, and includes more reflection than

the preliminary interview.

This limited scope must be kept in mind in order to conduct an effective

preliminary interview. However, it should not limit your ability to engage in

the interview process with sensitivity and tact. It may be a challenge for both

interviewer and interviewee to discuss such difficult subject matter over the

telephone with a stranger. Thus, the preliminary interview requires knowl-

edge, delicacy, perception, and skill.

If you plan to conduct preliminary interviews with many people, we recom-

mend that you create a questionnaire. Questionnaires need not be strict; they

may contain a list of suggested questions from which the interviewer may

choose while conducting the preliminary interview. However, certain consistent

information should be gathered in the preliminary interview, such as the

interviewee’s date and place of birth, and a basic chronology of his or her

wartime locations. The Museum has created several questionnaires for vary-

ing inter

vie

w

ee experiences.

We have separate questionnaires for the

Holocaust survivor, witness, liberator, rescuer, and perpetrator. Although these

categories ar

e b

y no means perfect, they provide structure while allowing a

cer

tain degr

ee of flexibility in conducting pr

eliminar

y inter

vie

ws.

S

ee A

ppendix

1 for an example of our most-used questionnaire, the Survivor Questionnaire.

I

f y

ou plan to make the questionnaires available to researchers, be sure

to ask the inter

vie

w

ees for permission to use the information for r

esear

ch

purposes. Interviewees will most likely comply if you assure them that their

addr

esses and telephone numbers will not be released to researchers without

their consent.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

3

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Providing

Options

f

or the

Interviewee

Conducting

the Preliminary

Interview

How Much

Detail?

Often the telephone maintains a distance between interviewer and interviewee

that makes it difficult to explore the heart of the interviewee’s story. If the

interviewee expresses discomfort in talking about certain experiences over the

telephone, the interviewer must respect that wish and accept the limitations

of interviewing by telephone. In such cases, it is wise to have a questionnaire

on hand to send to the interviewee.

However, getting a sense of how someone speaks is an important criterion

in determining whether or not to proceed with a full-length interview. The tele-

phone often is the only viable way to determine that. If an interviewee deems

the telephone inappropriate, you might suggest that the person write a basic

outline of his or her experiences or fill out a questionnaire, and ask

permission to call again afterward with a few follow-up questions.

Preliminary interviews also may be conducted in person. However, the

interviewer should make it clear that the preliminary interview is only intended

to gather information in preparation for an inter

view and that it is not an

in-depth recorded interview. This can be confusing for interviewees, who may

be more inclined to go into detail about their experiences in person than they

would over the telephone.

In the preliminary interview, find out the basic chronology of the

interviewee’s experiences, including dates and locations, so you will be able

to conduct thorough research and construct thoughtful questions for the

r

ecor

ded

inter

view.

One challenge of the preliminary interview is to create a balance between

being too concise and being too v

erbose. I

f it is necessary to err, err on the

side of including too much information rather than too little. M

or

e information

is always better than not enough because all further preparation and research

will be based on what is gather

ed at the preliminary interview (unless other

information exists, such as a memoir).

4 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Assessing the

Preliminary

Interview

Summarizing

the Preliminary

Interview

Conduct the preliminary interview more than a week in advance of the

recorded interview (preferably several weeks in advance). Otherwise, you may

have the problem of the interviewee saying over and over again on tape, “As I

told you last week ....” Conducting the preliminary interview weeks in

advance of the recorded interview also will allow you time to call the inter-

viewee with additional questions, should any arise during the process of

preparing research for the interview.

When deciding whether or not to proceed with a full-length interview, it is

important to consider not only what the interviewee said, but how it was said.

This requires the interviewer to describe the preliminary interview, including

clarity of speech and memory; the ability to relate experiences in a coherent

narrative; and the ability to r

eflect upon and create a context for those expe-

riences.

See page 74 (Appendix 1) for a sample format of the preliminary

interview assessment.

The interviewer should write a summary of the preliminary interview soon

after it is conducted. The longer the interviewer postpones writing the sum-

mary, the more difficult it will be to remember how scattered notes fit together

into a narrative. Alternatively, we highly recommend that you invest in a

r

ecor

ding device that can be connected to y

our telephone.

You then can use

the recording to write the summary and use it for review purposes. However,

do not think of the r

ecor

ding as a substitute for the written summary, because

audiotapes ar

e mor

e difficult to r

evie

w than written summaries. Also, do not

consider the recording of the preliminary interview as an archival document

that can be kept in lieu of an in-person taped inter

vie

w. Tapes are expensive

and take up space, and it is time consuming to pr

eser

v

e them pr

operly

.

The quality of recorded telephone interviews will not be high enough to

warrant such time and expense.

See

Appendix 2 for a sample preliminary

interview summary

.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

5

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

Timing

of the

Preliminary

Interview

page 6 is blank

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

7

Contacting

the

Interviewee

S

cheduling

the Interview

Chapter Overview

Contacting the Interviewee, 7

Scheduling the Interview, 7

Interview Note Taker, 8

Individuals Present at Interview, 8

Legal and Ethical Considerations, 8

Once you have determined who you would like to interview on tape, and

have a time frame in mind, contact the interviewee to see if he or she is will-

ing to be interviewed, and to offer more information about your project. Be

sure to let the interviewee know what is expected of him or her before the

interview takes place. For example, give an estimate of how long you expect

the interview to last, how the interview will be used once it is completed,

where the interview will take place, and who will be present at the interview.

Also explain that a release form must be signed, and give the inter

viewee a

sense of what is included in the form.

See “Legal and Ethical Considerations”

(page 8) for more information about release forms.

Being as informative as

possible can make interviewees feel more comfortable and in control of a

difficult process, about which they may feel quite vulnerable.

When scheduling the interview, be sure to allow plenty of time for conduct-

ing research and preparing for the interview. Many factors may necessitate

a lengthy preparation period, particularly if you have not conducted

Holocaust-related oral history interviews before. If this is the case, be sure to

review these Guidelines thoroughly before setting a date for the interview, so

you will have a good sense of the time required to prepare.

II. MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

FOR THE INTERVIEW

8 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

M

AKING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INTERVIEW

Interview

Note Taker

Individuals

Present at

Interview

Legal and

Ethical

Considerations

If you are conducting a video interview in a studio, there may be a greenroom,

where one can sit and watch the interview as it is being conducted. This is a

room, separate from the studio, with a TV monitor. In this scenario, someone

can take notes there as the interview transpires without distracting or dis-

turbing the interview. It is helpful to have the note taker write down the pho-

netic spellings of any personal names or obscure place names that are men-

tioned. The note taker then can confirm spellings before the interviewee

leaves the studio. This is important because some spellings are impossible to

confirm without the help of the interviewee. If you decide to have a note taker

at the interview, give that person plenty of advance notice.

If there is no greenroom or similar setup available, do not plan to have

a note taker in the same room where the interview is being conducted.

Instead, wait to confirm spellings until you have made a copy of the tape. In

this event, the person who takes notes will want to do so as soon as a copy of

the tape (or transcript) is available, so that he or she can call the inter

viewee

before too much time passes.

We generally recommend that few people as possible be present in the room

during the interview. The presence of an interviewee’s family member, while

comforting for the interviewee, may distract the interviewer or the interviewee.

However, handle this decision on a case-by-case basis, and make exceptions

for those who strongly prefer a family member to be present.

The O

ral H

istor

y Association has written principles and standar

ds for

conducting oral history interviews that detail the responsibility of any interview

pr

oject to its inter

viewees, the public, the profession, and sponsoring and

ar

chiv

al institutions. R

evie

w and follo

w these principles and standar

ds in the

conduct of any oral history project.

See Selected Bibliography (Appendix 5) for

mor

e information.

T

o obtain the right to use an inter

vie

w in y

our ar

chives or in any

production, each person you interview must sign a legal release form. This

form will determine who o

wns copyright of the interview and under what

terms or r

estrictions the copyright is o

wned. I

f no form is signed, copyright

of the interview will automatically belong jointly to the interviewer and the

interviewee. For more information on legal issues involved with conducting

oral history interviews, see

Oral History and the Law by John A. Neuen-

schwander.

See Appendix 5 for more information.

If you plan to donate an interview to an archive, you most likely will

be required to supply a signed release form along with the interview. The kind

of release form you create will depend on the goal of your interview collec-

tion. Several sample release forms can be found in the book

Doing Oral

History

by Donald A. Ritchie. See Appendix 5 for more information.

After you have confirmed a date for the interview, send the interviewee

a standard information sheet or letter that reiterates the basic arrangements

for the interview, including when and where it will take place, who will con-

duct it, how long you expect the session to last, etc. Enclose a copy of the

release form so the interviewee can review it carefully and ask any questions

before the inter

view. You should be very familiar with the release form, and

explain it carefully to the interviewee either before the interview or at the

interview. Ask the interviewee to bring the release form to the interview, but

be sure to bring an extra copy in case the interviewee forgets his or hers.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

9

M

AKING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE INTERVIEW

page 10 blank

Chapter Overview

Set Aside Time for Research, 12

Review Interviewee’s Experiences, 13

Important Items to Research, 13

Things You Can Do at Home, 14

Visit a Library or Research Facility, 15

Maps, 16

Other Resources for Locating Places, 16

Expanding Your Search for Resources, 17

Using the Museum’s Resources, 17

If You Need Clarification, 19

Challenges, 19

Research List, 19

When to Stop, 20

You need not be an expert on the Holocaust to conduct a successful

interview. However, you must have knowledge and understanding of

the basic historical facts. The people you interview will expect this as

well. In addition, you must become knowledgeable about the particu-

lar circumstances of your interviewee’s history. The most important

ingredient for a successful interview is the preparation that you do

before the recorded interview. Even the most experienced interviewer

will spend hours preparing for an interview by reading historical material

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

11

III. CONDUCTING RESEARCH

Set Aside

Time for

Research

relevant to the interviewee’s story and preparing questions based specif-

ically on that material. Preparation is critical.

There are thousands of books and articles about the Holocaust in

print. The Selected Bibliography (Appendix 5) includes what we consider

the most useful published sources. Once you have determined whom

you will interview, it is critical that you gather sufficient research materials

tailored to that person. The Oral History Branch has developed the fol-

lowing step-by-step guide to help make the process go smoothly.

Once you have the summary of the interviewee’s experiences in hand, begin

to do your research. Expect to depend on the help of a good local library,

Holocaust resource center, or other research facility to get this research done.

Plan to spend at least three to four hours gathering your research mate-

rials and four hours or more reading and preparing questions for each inter-

view you do. It is likely that for each interview, the total time spent on

research, reading, and preparing questions will be at least eight hours. When

you are doing research, try to be realistic about how many pages of reading

you will be able to do prior to the interview (some Holocaust resource centers

and libraries don’t allow patrons to check out books, so photocopying may be

necessary). Be selective and photocopy only the most relevant materials

(rather than

all possible r

elev

ant materials).

With four hours set aside for read-

ing and preparing questions, you should try to limit the research packet to

100 pages of photocopied materials. Even with 100 pages or less, there may

be some pages that you will read very closely and others that you will skim.

Of course, if you intend to spend more time reading, you will want to copy

more materials. The goal, however, is to collect the most suitable research for

the specific interviewee’s experiences, rather than indiscriminately photo-

copying every article or book on a certain topic.

12 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Important

Items to

Research

Start by reviewing the preliminary interview questionnaire and the summary

that was based on the telephone interview and any other information in the

interviewee’s file. Take note of the people, places, events, and organizations

that you want to learn more about in preparation for the full-length interview.

We recommend that you jot down a one to two-page overview of the person’s

experiences, incorporating information from the questionnaire, the summary,

and other materials in the file. It can be helpful to write these notes in bullet

or outline fashion.

See Appendix 3 for a sample interviewee overview.

Read the following guidelines to get a sense of the questions you can ask your-

self as you review the information in the interviewee’s file and take notes on

the most important items to research.

Names of Interviewees

You may be able to find specific references in published sources about an

interviewee if that person or an immediate family member was well known or

had an unusual position—such as an administrator within the

Judenrat

(Jewish Council) at the Lodz ghetto—or was part of a small or select group,

such as an escapee of Treblinka or Auschwitz. Make a special note of the inter-

viewee’s name(s) during the war for doing this kind of research. Often, people

changed their names after the war when they immigrated to the United States

or other countries.

Names of People Mentioned by Interviewees

U

se the same considerations as abo

ve. Try to get more information about a

person with whom the inter

vie

w

ee had contact, especially if that person was

well known, had an unusual position, or was part of a small or select group

(for example, it could be someone no

w kno

wn to have been a protector or res-

cuer or perpetrator). Again, consider the possibility that someone could hav

e

different names (birth name, war name, postwar name, etc.).

P

laces

Whenever possible, research the place where the interviewee grew up as a

child.

Whether it was a large city or small village, some information usually

can be found in published sour

ces.

Then r

esear

ch other places to which the

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

13

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Review

Interviewee’s

E

xperiences

Things You

Can Do at

Home

interviewee went or was taken during the Holocaust/war and immediately

after (ghettos, camps, towns or cities where he or she might have hid,

displaced persons camps). Make a note of all places you wish to research.

Make it a priority to research those places where the interviewee may have had

memorable experiences and/or stayed for a considerable period of time.

Conversely, if the interviewee was taken to a camp for a half-day stopover and

did not have memorable experiences there, it would not be necessary to do

much research about that camp for the interview.

Events/Organizations

Do research on events that the interviewee experienced or witnessed, as well

as organizations and movements in which the interviewee participated. Do

enough research on events and organizations so that you are familiar with the

details and can visualize scenarios that the interviewee may discuss.

In most cases, y

ou will know which events and organizations to

research based on the information in the person’s file. However, as you read

about the places where the interviewee grew up and went thereafter, it is

important to be aware of the dates when the interviewee was in each place and

to be on the lookout for events that the interviewee may have experienced or

witnessed, even if the interviewee had not previously mentioned the events.

Often, if you are familiar with events that occurred in a particular place, you

can prepare more thoughtful and stimulating questions. This knowledge can

be especially important in cases where an interviewee forgot to mention

events when the preliminary interview was conducted.

Ther

e may be some pr

eliminar

y r

esear

ch that y

ou can do at home prior to

making a visit to a library or Holocaust resource center. First check any

H

olocaust-r

elated books that you may have in your home library for infor-

mation per

taining to the inter

vie

w

ee.

W

e have attached to these Guidelines a

Selected Bibliography (Appendix 5), consisting of what we consider some help-

ful r

esources on Holocaust history, Holocaust research, and oral history

methodology

.

This is b

y no means a compr

ehensiv

e bibliography, but it

should be helpful as a starting point. The text that we recommend most high-

ly on the histor

y of the Holocaust is

The D

estruction of the European Jews

(thr

ee v

olumes) b

y Raul H

ilberg.

You may be interested in purchasing some

14 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Visit a

Library or

Researc

h

Facility

of the other books listed in the bibliography, but by no means will all of the

books listed be useful to you for each interview that you do. It is impossible

to buy enough books that deal with all the possible research topics in-depth,

so the sources you would have at home will most likely be helpful for the

preliminary, more general stages of research.

You may wish to write to various Holocaust resource centers or other

research facilities to learn if they have any information on the subjects of

interest to you. When writing to research facilities, be precise about the kind

of information you are seeking, and conscientious about any research facility’s

limited capacity for answering detailed research questions. Responses may be

slower than you expect. A list and contact information for Holocaust resource

centers can be found in the

Directory of the Association of Holocaust

Organizations,

which is updated annually. Copies of this directory may be

obtained by contacting the Holocaust Resource Center and Archives of the

Queensbor

ough Community College in Bayside, New York. The Museum

Web site houses the USHMM International Catalogue of audio and video

testimonies.

See “Research” on the Museum’s Web site.

Many research facilities’ holdings are now searchable on the Internet,

so a few keyword searches may yield positive results. If you have a computer

with access to the Internet and are able to visit the United States Holocaust

Memorial Museum to conduct your research, you can search the Museum’s

Library and Archives collections before your visit.

Eventually, you will need to visit a local library, Holocaust resource center, or

other r

esear

ch facility. Keep in mind that if you are working with a local

librar

y

, the selection of books may be limited, and y

ou might hav

e to obtain

the books you are looking for through an interlibrary loan. This can take

sev

eral w

eeks, so plan ahead.

I

f y

ou can visit the M

useum

’

s Librar

y and Archives, it is best to do so

on a weekday (except for national holidays) between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

because many mor

e resources are available then than on weekends. You may

use the Librar

y

’

s collection on-site only

. I

f you are interested in listening to

testimonies from the Museum’s collection of interviews, you may request

them fr

om the Reference Archivist. Refer to the Reference Archivist also for

access to unpublished documents in the Ar

chiv

es collection.

The P

hotographic

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

15

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Other

Resources

for Locating

Places

Reference Collection and Survivors Registry also are potential sources for rel-

evant information.

Begin your research by obtaining copies of maps that reflect the places where

the interviewee grew up and went during the Holocaust and immediate post-

war periods. Even if you are familiar with geography, it is best to treat each

interview as distinct and re-familiarize yourself with the specific locations of

the interviewee’s experiences. The goal is to become intimately aware of the

person’s path prior to, during, and immediately after the Holocaust. By high-

lighting the locations on maps, it is easier to obtain an understanding of the

distances covered from one place to the next. In general, maps provide a good

opportunity to visualize the interviewee’s experiences.

An excellent sour

ce for maps is the

National G

eographic Atlas of the

World.

You can make a copy of the maps of countries pertinent to the inter-

viewee, then highlight the relevant towns and cities on each map. Often if a

person went to several different countries, you will want to make a copy of

a map of Europe and highlight relevant place names on it, as well as on maps

of each country.

If you still need to identify the country in which a town is located, or

if it is difficult to find a town on a map, look up the place name in the atlas’

index. If you find the place name, turn to the appropriate page of the atlas

and use the coordinates listed in the index to locate the place on the map.

Then highlight it on y

our copy of that page.

If you do not find the place in the index of the atlas, there are other sources

to use. I

t always is key to consider that the place name may be spelled incor

-

r

ectly or that a name has changed o

v

er the y

ears and a differ

ent v

ersion is

more commonly accepted today.

Check the follo

wing additional sources when trying to locate a place

(to

wn, city

, ghetto, camp):

Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer

Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem

(also known as the Arolsen

List—especially useful for identifying camps)

16 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Maps

Expanding

Your Search

for Resources

Using the

Museum’s

Resources

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

Encyclopaedia Judaica

The Ghetto Anthology

Historical Atlas of the Holocaust

Maps of specific countries (showing greater detail than the National

Geographic Atlas of the World)

Where Once We Walked

Yizkor Books (memorial books, mostly written in Yiddish or Hebrew)

See Selected Bibliography (Appendix 5) for more information on these sources and

a list of our other most-used published sources.

It usually is possible to find the place in one or more of these sour

ces.

There will be rare instances when a place is so obscure that it cannot be found.

In such cases, you should be able to get an idea of the town or city that is clos-

est to the place in question.

You may be able to fulfill a substantial amount of your research inquiries by

using our

Selected Bibliography (Appendix 5) of the published sources, espe-

cially if you are looking for information on a well-known topic such as

“Auschwitz,” “Lodz ghetto,” or “Dr. Mengele.” But you also will want to

check for relevant information in a library’s larger collection of books (and rel-

evant unpublished materials, if available). Additionally, many of the books

listed in our bibliography contain extensiv

e bibliographies of their o

wn.

The Museum will be a helpful resource for conducting interviews if you are

in the ar

ea and hav

e an opportunity to visit. The sections below provide

guidance on ho

w to use r

esour

ces in the M

useum

’s various divisions.

In addition, some of the Museum’s resources are searchable on the Internet.

The M

useum

’

s

W

eb site address is www.ushmm.org.

Once you are at the web site, select the option to search “Research”

which includes the Librar

y and Archives. In doing these searches, you will be

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

17

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

able to get the call numbers for materials you are interested in reviewing when

you come to the Museum.

Library

If you have the opportunity to visit the Museum, you can use the Library’s

computer catalog to find specific books that are relevant to your research. If

you are using this system for the first time, ask the Reference Librarian for an

introduction to how it works. Even if you have used the system before, feel

free to ask for assistance.

With titles and call numbers written down, you can find the books on

the Library’s shelves. If you cannot locate a book, ask the Reference Librarian

for help (occasionally a book is waiting to be shelved or has been mis-shelved).

Begin your search for information with the book’s table of contents.

Next, check the index (if one exists). Also, refer to the book’s bibliography for

more sour

ces. Often, information can be found simply by flipping through

the pages of a book. There will be times when you will not find relevant infor-

mation in a book, even though its title gave you the impression that it would

be helpful. Similarly, a book that didn’t appear useful by its title may have

relevant information. Thus, it is good to be on the lookout for books other

than the one you are trying to locate on the shelves, since books on the same

topic are shelved together. After you have removed a book and are finished

reviewing it, place it on the designated re-shelving carts. Do not re-shelve it. If

you obtained the book from the Reference Desk, return it to the desk.

We recommend that you wait until you have had the opportunity to

r

evie

w the Librar

y sour

ces you’ve gathered before making copies. By waiting

until you have reviewed most of your materials, you will have a better sense

of the most r

elev

ant pages to photocopy. When you have determined the

pages y

ou want to photocopy

, ask the R

efer

ence Librarian for assistance.

18 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

Archives

You may want to check the Archives for information, especially if you have

not found much material in the Library. There is a separate computer catalog

at the Museum that searches for the Archives’ holdings. Also, you would want

to search the Archives’ holdings if you think the interviewee may have donated

his or her unpublished writings.

Photographic Reference Collection

Occasionally, an interviewee will mention that he or she was photographed in

the ghettos or camps. There may be other times when you have reason to

believe there may be photographs of the interviewee from that time period. Go

to the Photographic Reference Collection to see if such photographs are at the

Museum. Also, check with them if you have not found much information on

a town, camp, or ghetto, but believe there may be photographs of the place.

As you are conducting your research, it may become apparent that you need

further clarification or elaboration on an aspect of the interviewee’s experi-

ences in order to effectively carry out your research. In this event, call the

interviewee directly and ask for a clarification, leaving enough time before the

interview to allow you to do more research if necessary.

Even with clarifying information from the interviewee, it may be difficult to

find r

elev

ant materials on certain topics, such as lesser-known towns, ghettos,

camps, etc. Consult with a H

olocaust r

esour

ce center when seeking

specialized information.

When y

ou have completed your research, it is helpful to write down a list of

the sour

ces y

ou hav

e compiled.

S

ee A

ppendix 4 for a sample r

esear

ch list.

Keep this list in the interviewee’s file; it may be useful to someone in the

futur

e (for example, if a follow-up interview is arranged).

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

19

C

ONDUCTING RESEARCH

If You Need

Clarification

Researc

h

List

Challenges

When to

Stop

20 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Ideally, after three to four hours of skimming materials and making

photocopies of items you want to read or review later, you will have compiled

a well-rounded research packet. In essence, the packet should represent

detailed information about the interviewee’s experiences (much of this

information would have been gathered in the preliminary interview) and the

larger historical context of the interviewee’s experiences. Review the section

“Important Items to Research” (page 13) and the overview you made based

on the preliminary interview to make sure you have covered the

important points.

Notes on

Preparing

Questions

Organizing

Questions

Chapter Overview

Notes on Preparing Questions, 21

Organizing Questions, 21

Using Questions in the Interview, 22

For every interview, it is essential to know about the interviewee’s

history so you can construct questions that directly relate to that person.

Use the research materials that you have gathered and a good chronology

of events as references in preparing questions. Additionally, you may

find some questions that are relevant to your interview in our list of

suggested questions.

You will be constructing questions from the time you have the preliminary

interview information in hand through the recorded interview itself.

Therefore, as you prepare your questions, it is important to consider how you

plan to conduct the interview and what direction you anticipate the interview

will take.

See Chapter VII, Conducting the Interview. Consider what kinds of

information you want to get from the interviewee and look for blank spots

and intriguing areas in the preliminary interview summary that you would

like to explore.

Some interviewers type up pages of questions prior to the interview, but then

put them aside befor

e they begin the actual inter

vie

w

, because looking at a list

of questions can be distracting fr

om listening to the inter

vie

w

ee.

This wor

ks

if you have an excellent memory and a great deal of experience conducting

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

21

IV. PREPARING QUESTIONS

Using

Questions

in the

Interview

interviews. We recommend instead that you write down your questions, high-

lighting those you consider most important, so you can read them easily

during the interview.

Organize your questions chronologically, perhaps in phases, such as

“prewar life,” “Lodz ghetto,” “Auschwitz,” “liberation,” etc. In other words,

organize the questions according to the major episodes of the interviewee’s

experiences. Then, during the interview, hold your list of questions in your

lap, and only glance at it occasionally to be sure that important questions do

not go unanswered. You may wish to write your questions on several 4 x 6

index cards, which make little noise when handled during the interview.

Ideally, you will be familiar enough with your questions that you will need to

refer to them only occasionally, if at all, during the interview.

During the interview itself, do not plan to ask one question after another as

they are listed on the page. Often an interviewee will anticipate and answer

your questions, and there will be no need for you to ask them. If you are over-

ly concerned about having the interviewee answer your specific questions, you

will be distracted from what the interviewee is telling you. Therefore, even

though you have your questions written down, you should attempt to have

your most important questions in your mind, rather than depending on a

piece of paper. If you have a thorough sense of the events in the interviewee’s

life before you begin the interview, then the information that the interviewee

giv

es y

ou during the inter

vie

w should remind you of your questions. Allow

yourself to follow the interviewee’s lead and put your questions aside for parts

of the inter

vie

w. You may find that what the interviewee is telling you will

pr

ompt ne

w questions that y

ou had not ev

en consider

ed.

In any interview, focus on asking questions that invite reflection on the

par

t of the inter

viewee, rather than one-word responses. Generally avoid yes

or no questions. S

till, good questions do not hav

e to be complicated or flashy

.

One of the best sentences you can use during the interview to elicit details is,

“

Tell me more about that.”

22 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

P

REPAIRING QUESTIONS

Family/

Occupation/

Education

Chapter Overview

Family/Occupation/Education, 23

Religion and Politics, 24

Gender, 24

We have highlighted below a few thematic areas within the broad

spectrum of Holocaust experiences that you might consider weaving

into the interview. These are meant to be suggestive rather than exhaus-

tive, and some interviewees’ experiences may call for a different set of

thematic areas.

Once you are familiar with your interviewee’s experiences, con-

sider identifying certain themes that run through his or her life, and

create your own outline of themes. If you find that the themes outlined

below are applicable to your interviewee’s experiences, go to Chapter VI

for some suggested questions that relate to the themes you have outlined.

It is important to have some idea of the ways in which education (religious,

musical, scientific, etc.) play

ed a role in a person’s life. If one’s education

or background was not academic (for example, if the person were a trade or

skilled laborer), that factor may have provided opportunities that saved his

or her life. Knowing the situation in which someone was raised, including

home environment; relationship with parents, siblings, and friends; and the

parents’ occupations, can help us better understand the interviewee’s life.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

23

V. SUGGESTED THEMES

Religion and

Politics

Gender

The religious upbringing and beliefs, as well as the political views or activities

of the interviewee and the interviewee’s family and friends, are relevant to

understanding the interviewee’s choices and actions during the Holocaust.

When possible, it is helpful to get the interviewee to articulate this back-

ground. There even may be some connection between religious practice and

political activity that might lead you to deduce something about the connec-

tions between the environment in which a person was raised and his or her

later actions during Nazi persecution.

Gender is an area of investigation that is rather new to Holocaust studies as a

whole, and in the field of Holocaust oral history, it has generally been ignored

as a category. Nevertheless, it is essential to think through questions that relate

to gender. Some can be based on physiology, for example, questions about

menstruation, pregnancy, abortion, sexual relations, as well as sexual violence.

There also are questions that can be based on cultural and political

issues relating to positions of power held by men and women. For example,

positions on the

Judenrat (Jewish Council) were held exclusively by men, but

the councils sometimes had to make decisions that specifically affected

women. Nazi directives forbidding pregnancy forced the Jewish Councils to

make decisions concerning abortions. Decisions about those who would be

deported were sometimes made on the basis of gender. Explore how access to

jobs, food, and other resources differed for men and women. The similarities

in the liv

es of men and women also warrant exploration.

Other questions relating to gender can be based on the differences in

the ghettos, camps, and r

esistance gr

oups. As men and women were separated

in most camp situations, ask about differ

ences in ho

w the two genders r

elated

and organized. When men and women were together in ghettos or other

places, such as the C

z

ech family camp in Auschwitz, what sort of organization

was constr

ucted? Ask questions that elicit the str

uctur

e of daily life in the

camps—food distribution, sharing of food, days off, sanitation, barrack life,

wor

k assignments, roll call, friendships, brutality, etc. Such questions clearly

per

tain to men and women alike.

24 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED THEMES

Chapter Overview

Prewar Life, 26

The First Questions

Childhood Recollections

Nazi Rise to Power

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences, 28

Ghettos and Transit Camps

Labor Camps, Prisons,

Concentration/ Extermination Camps

Hiding/Passing and Escaping

Resistance

Postwar Experiences, 34

Liberation

Displaced Persons Camps

Emigration/Immigration

Beyond the War/Life After the Holocaust

Although we do not recommend that you use a standard questionnaire

for the interview, it is extremely helpful to be detailed about topics and

the kinds of questions you will construct in preparation for an inter-

view. No one should ask as many questions in one interview as we have

outlined in this chapter. Rather, these questions serve as a guide to the

level of detail we hope an interviewee will reveal. The questions also will

provide hints as to what you might ask if the interviewee does not go

into details about certain experiences.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

25

VI. SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

PREWAR

LIFE

When interviewing Holocaust survivors, the structure of the

recorded Holocaust testimony is typically divided into three sections:

prewar life, the Holocaust and wartime experiences, and postwar expe-

riences. Therefore, we have organized our suggested questions according

to these three broad categories. Questions for interviewees with other

Holocaust-related experiences, such as liberators, rescuers, bystanders, or

postwar relief agency workers, will require a different set of questions

than those outlined in this chapter. However, these questions may help

you create appropriate questions for other interviewee categories.

This section of the interview deals with the interviewee’s childhood and

upbringing—family life, friends, relationships, schooling, and prewar life in

general. Especially when speaking with survivors, this part of the interview

should demonstrate the kind of life and culture that was interrupted or

destroyed by National Socialism. It is important to get some sense of the per-

son’s interests and hobbies, along with the events that marked his or her life

prior to the Nazi rise to power or occupation. It also is important to draw out

the intervie

wee’s earliest recollections of the Nazis—especially what he or she

heard or read or experienced, such as the escalation of restrictions and legal

measur

es, and ho

w they affected family

, school, friends.

1. What was your name at birth? (Sometimes people have changed their

names, thus it is important to get this information at the outset.

Throughout the interview, when it is relevant, be sure to ask about nick-

names or other name changes, including changes at the time of liberation

and emigration.)

2. Where were you born?

3. What was your date of birth?

26 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

The Fir

st

Questions

1. Describe your family, including the role of your mother and father in

the household and their occupations. Describe your family life and your

daily life.

2. Describe school, friends, hobbies, affiliations with organizations.

3. Describe the nature of religious life in your family and community.

4. What were your family’s political affiliations?

5. What are your recollections of your city or town before the war, including

relationships between Jews and non-Jews? Any recollections of anti-

semitism or racism of any kind?

6. If the interviewee is older, ask him or her to describe job/occupation,

relationships, marriage, children.

1. What did you know about Hitler or Nazism? How was the Nazi rise to

power or Nazi policy understood in your family/community?

2. How did you become aware of the Nazi presence? Do you remember

the first day of occupation? Any recollections of seeing the Nazis?

Experiences? Feelings? Discussions? If you were a child, how did your

parents or other adults respond to the Nazi presence?

3. Describe recollections of escalation of Nazi power—How did the Nazi

presence change your life? Were you persecuted? Any plans or attempts

to leav

e?

4.

I

f in G

erman

y

—

Ask about the April 1933 boycott, book burnings,

Nuremberg race laws,

Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), etc.

5. Elsewhere—Ask about the imposition of the Star of David on clothes,

J

e

ws prohibited from public places, confiscation or destruction of Jewish

pr

oper

ty

, for

ced labor

, movement out of homes.

6.

D

escribe ability or inability to r

un business or maintain occupation.

7.

I

f not J

e

wish, what did y

ou know about the circumstances of Jews?

Did you know any Jews? Did you try to help them?

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

27

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

Childhood

Recollections

Nazi Rise

to Power

Ghet

tos

and Transit

Camps

It is essential to know about the particular ghetto, transit camp, labor camp,

prison, concentration or extermination camp where an interviewee was

interned. Specific questions must be constructed according to that interviewee’s

particular experiences.

There is no “typical” Holocaust experience, although there are some

categories of experiences into which many people fit. Alternately, there are

instances where one person’s experiences fit into multiple categories.

Most often, incarceration in a ghetto or transit camp preceded deportation to

labor, concentration, and/or extermination camps. Most Jews spent time in a

ghetto or transit camp; most non-Jews did not.

1. When and ho

w were you notified that you were to leave for the ghetto?

(For some people, a ghetto was formed where they already lived; conse-

quently, some of these questions may not be applicable.) How old were

you? How did you get to the ghetto? Was the “trip” organized? What did

you bring? What did you think about this “move?” What did you know?

What were your recollections of arrival at the new site? Describe your

first impressions. What did the ghetto look like? Was there a wall? If so,

what kind?

2. What are your recollections about getting adjusted? Were you alone?

Wher

e did you live? Where did you sleep? Did you sleep well? Did you

have dreams? Nightmares?

3.

What ar

e your recollections about living conditions—food, sanitation,

medical facilities, housing? D

escribe r

elationships among family members

and in the larger community. Describe daily life, including play and school

for childr

en. D

escribe social services—soup kitchens, hospitals, orphan-

ages, schools, facilities for the disabled. D

id y

ou hav

e any mobility or fr

ee

-

dom of movement? Was the ghetto closed at a certain time? What sort of

transpor

tation was there in the ghetto? Were there any non-Jews in the

ghetto? Any r

elationships betw

een J

e

ws and non-J

ews?

28 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

HOLOCAUST/

WARTIME

EXPERIENCES

4. If non-Jewish and in a ghetto, discuss your arrival, adjustment, living

circumstances, work, relations to Jews and to Nazi authorities.

5. What sort of work did you do? Did other family members work? How

did you get this “job?”

6. Describe any cultural, religious, or social activities—concerts, lectures,

parties, religious observances. What about friends and recreation? Were

intimate relationships important?

7. Did you hear any news of what was happening outside the ghetto? What

did you understand about your situation? About the situation of Jews?

Did you know about killings? Labor camps? Extermination camps? What

rumors were in the ghetto? What did you believe? Did you or anyone you

knew think of escaping or actually escape?

8. Were the lives of men and women similar or different? Different tasks?

Different positions in the community? Were men and women treated

differently? If so, how? Did you even notice that you were a man or a

woman? In other words, did gender matter to you? In what ways? What

about sexuality in the ghetto—relationships, menstruation, pregnancy,

abortions, prostitution, rape?

9. How did people around you treat each other?

10. Describe the structure of the ghetto—

Judenrat (Jewish Council), police,

work, food and clothing distribution, housing, medical care, etc.

E

v

aluate the wor

k of the

J

udenr

at

and J

e

wish police:

W

ere they corrupt?

Helpful? Trying to help in an impossible situation?

11. Were you involved in resistance activities? What did you do? Were you a

member of a gr

oup?

Was the group primarily men or both men and

women? R

oles? A

ctivities?

12.

What kept y

ou going? D

iscuss y

our motiv

ations and inspirations, if they

existed. Were you ever depressed? Did you ever not want to keep going?

D

escribe your situation.

13.

Describe the Nazi presence in your ghetto or transit camp. Give names of

G

ermans or collaborators if possible. D

escribe r

elationships or experiences.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

29

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

1. Describe deportation to camp—What were the circumstances of selec-

tion of those to be transported? Who did the selecting? Were you arrested?

Rounded up in selection? What was the method of transport?

Approximately how many people were transported? Conditions during

the trip? Any idea of the length of the trip? What were you told of the

purpose of the trip? Did you believe what you were told?

2. Describe your arrival and first impressions. Did you even know where

you were? With whom did you arrive? If with family, what happened?

What happened to your belongings? Describe any thoughts, feelings,

hopes, fears. What did you see, hear, smell? What was your condition on

arrival? Time of year? Time of day? Were there prisoners at your arrival

point? Describe any interactions. Describe your impressions of the camp

personnel.

3. Describe your registration into the camp—Shaving? Showers? Tattoo?

Delousing? Uniform? Barrack assignment? (Be sure to get the tattoo num-

ber or other identification used in the camp—number and/or letter on

uniform, etc.) Bunk? Who was with you? From where? Were all the people

in your barrack Jewish? If not, why were they there? Language problems?

4. Specific living conditions—food, sanitation, medical facilities.

5. Work—In which

Kommando (work detail) were you? How were you

chosen? Were you engaged in different kinds of work at different times?

Were there privileged prisoners? What did you know about their situa-

tion?

W

as S

unday a day off?

What did you know about the structure of

the camp?

6. Daily existence—Roll call? Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Was there stealing

of food? B

r

utality? Punishment? Latrines? Selections for the gas cham-

bers? H

o

w did y

ou sleep? R

ecollections of noises, smells, discussions,

humor? Any cultural activities? Explain. If religious, did you try to retain

some r

eligious traditions? E

xplain what and how. Were there any reli-

gious obser

v

ances? D

id any

one r

eceive mail? Was there a canteen in your

camp? What was the method of currency? What was available? To whom

was it av

ailable?

7.

Illness or physical problems—Diseases? Dental problems? How did

women deal with menstr

uation? P

r

egnancy? B

abies and killing ne

w-

borns? Medical treatment?

30 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

Labor Camps,

Prisons,

Concentration/

Extermination

Camps

Hiding/Passing

and Escaping

8. What were the relationships between people? Did you have any good

friends? Did anyone ever help you? Did you help anyone? Were people

affectionate with one another? Were there sexual relationships in the

camp? Sexual brutality? Was there a brothel in the camp? Did you know

anyone in the brothel? Who could go to the brothel? What were your

relationships, if any, with non-Jewish prisoners? If non-Jewish, what were

your relationships with Jews?

9. What are your recollections of the guards? Nazi personnel? Prisoner

functionaries? Do you remember names?

10. Explain any involvement in resistance activities or the underground.

11. What were your experiences of witnessing killings and deaths?

12. What was your emotional state? What kept you going?

13. What did you know about the “outside world?” How did you learn?

14. Describe your evacuation and “death march,” if applicable.

It should be understood that escaping and hiding were interrelated. Often,

people had to escape before they could hide or pass as someone they were not

by assuming a false identity. These areas of inquiry are divided here only for

organizational purposes.

Hiding/Passing

1.

H

ow was the decision made to hide? With whom did you hide? What do

y

ou r

ecollect about going into hiding? H

o

w old w

er

e you? What did you

take with you? Did you know where you were going?

2. Who hid you, and what was your relationship with them?

3. What kind of hiding? A hiding place with no outside contact? Did you

hav

e a false identity? If so, explain how you acquired or assumed the par-

ticular identity

. E

xplain the pr

oblems of maintaining that identity

. F

or

example, did you have to pretend you were not Jewish? Was that diffi-

cult? H

ow? Who knew about your real identity? When did you resume

y

our r

eal identity? O

r did y

ou? D

id you ever try to help Jews by using

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

31

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

Resistance

your false identity? Describe any important relationships you had while

in hiding or in passing. Did you ever engage in resistance activities?

How? Doing what? With whom, if anyone, in the resistance movement

did you have contact?

4. Describe the hiding place(s). Size? Kind of place? Conditions?

Movement? What did you do all day? Work? Food? Sanitation? (If a

woman, what about menstruation?) Sexual abuse or threats?

5. Feelings during this situation? Fears, dreams, hopes, questions?

6. Were you ever discovered? Did you ever have any close calls? How did

you know whom to trust? Did you have contingency plans? Did you stay

in one place? Was there a Nazi or German presence in your situation?

7. What kept you going?

8. How did you emerge from hiding?

Escaping

1. Describe your decision to escape. Were you alone, or with others? If

alone, why? I

f you were not involved in the decision, describe how the

decision was made by those with whom you escaped.

2. Describe others who escaped with you.

3. Describe preparations for the escape.

4.

D

escribe the specific cir

cumstances of the escape. D

id it go as planned?

Where did you go? Who helped?

5. What happened after the escape?

6. Dangers? Close calls?

7. What kept you going?

R

esistance activities might hav

e been organiz

ed in ghettos, camps, prisons,

cities and towns, or in the forest. They might entail individuals acting alone or

in gr

oups, spontaneously or with calculation. Thus, as usual, questions will have

to be gear

ed to the par

ticular situation of the inter

vie

w

ee. Generic questions

can only serve as a guide to create questions specific to a particular inter-

vie

wee’s experiences.

32 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

1. Describe how you got involved in the resistance. Were there entrance

requirements?

2. Describe the kind of group(s) and the kind of resistance activities. What

were your tasks? Were there rules within the group? What was the

group’s goal?

3. Give names and recollections of those with whom you worked.

4. Name of the resistance group? Jewish or non-Jewish? If you were with the

Soviet partisans, how did you make contact? Did they welcome Jews?

Did you ever have contact with other resistance groups? What were those

relationships, if any?

5. How was the group organized? Who were the leaders? How were deci-

sions made? How did you get assignments? Were there women as well as

men? Children?

Were tasks assigned by gender?

6. Did you receive training? Describe. Did you have weapons?

7. Where did you live? What sort of work did you do in the group?

8. Was there support (money, food) from the local population? Did they

give the support voluntarily, or were they forced to provide it?

9. Describe friendships in the group. Difficulties arising from personality

differences? Political or strategic differences? Any cultural activities—

Telling stories? Singing? Religious observance?

10. Were most people in the group married or were there sexual liaisons

formed for r

easons of pr

otection and/or lo

v

e? D

id married individuals

also have lovers in the group? Was there sexual violence of any kind?

W

er

e there pregnancies? Abortions? Any babies born in the group?

11.

What sor

t of medical care was available? What sort of medical problems?

H

o

w w

er

e sanitar

y issues handled? D

id women menstruate? Was that

a problem?

12. Specific events? Activities? Smuggling? False papers? Bombing? Stealing?

F

ighting? Sabotage?

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

33

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

13. If you were not in any organized resistance group, did you know about

resistance in any form? How did you individually resist? Why did you

decide to resist? How often did you engage in resistance activities?

14. What kept you going?

Again, specific questions must be developed for the individual and the

particular circumstances of the interviewee—liberation site, displaced persons

camp experience(s), and/or emigration experiences. Obviously, if people went

back to their former homes, to the United States, to Palestine (and after 1948,

Israel), or to all of these places and/or any other country, the interview should

reflect these specific experiences and provide some historical context.

1. Describe your circumstances leading up to liberation. What was your

physical and mental state?

2. What do you recall about the moment when you realized you were

“free?” When and where were you liberated? By whom? What was your

reaction to your liberation?

3. Describe the first few days of liberation. Describe the conditions of your

envir

onment. What did you do? What was your physical state? What was

done to you? Was there any physical or sexual abuse that you witnessed

or experienced during this period? H

o

w did y

our liberators tr

eat y

ou?

Describe the medical help and the food supply.

4. What happened to perpetrators? Prisoner functionaries? Any retaliation

fr

om prisoners to their former captors?

5.

D

escribe how you tried to put your life together. (Years of mending could

be discussed.)

Wher

e did y

ou go?

W

ith whom? What did you do? Did

you look for family?

34 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

POSTWAR

EXPERIENCES

Liberation

Be

y

ond the

War/Life

After the

Holocaust

1. When and how did you get to a displaced persons camp?

2. What happened in the displaced persons camp? Food? Sanitation? Sleeping

quarters? Illness? Fears? Nightmares? Hopes? What was the organiza-

tion of the camp? Leaders? Police? Political and religious organizations?

Cultural activities? What about education? Training? Food? Health?

Clothes? Shelter? Black Market? Relationships? Marriage? Work?

3. Did you find members of your family? Old friends? If yes, were there

problems adjusting to each other? If no, how did you adjust to others and

the situation?

4. Did you talk about your experiences? Who listened?

5. How long were you in the displaced persons camp? When did you leave

and how? Where did you go?

1. Where did you want to live after the war?

2. To where did you emigrate? When, why, and how?

3. Describe your early experiences as an émigré. How did you adjust to

your new country of residence? Did you face any discrimination?

Language barriers?

4. Describe living conditions, work, and/or family in your new home.

S

ee “Concluding the I

nterview” in Chapter VII before devoting extensive attention

to an inter

view

ee

’

s postwar experiences.

1.

H

o

w did y

ou adjust to “

normal

” life after the Holocaust? What problems

did you face? What gave you strength to go on? Did religion play a role?

The ar

ts? Political ideology? Any belief system?

2.

What did you do in this new situation? Was it easy to make new friends?

D

id y

ou talk about y

our war

time experiences with any

one? Did you

identify with the people in the country to which you emigrated, or feel

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

35

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

Displaced

Persons

Camps

Emigration/

Immigration

36 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

isolated? How would you characterize your relationships immediately

after the Holocaust?

3. Did you go to school? Work? Marry? Raise a family? Have any serious

illnesses? Did you have nightmares? Fears? Hopes? What were your

living circumstances? What did you do for pleasure?

4. Can you talk about the long-term impact that your experiences during

the Holocaust have had on you? For example, how did the Holocaust affect

your family, raising children, values, trust, fear, your work? Are there

sounds or smells that evoke past experiences? When you dream about the

Holocaust years, what images still haunt you?

5. Do you think that survivors with a wide range of Holocaust experiences

share commonalties? Describe.

6. Ar

e your friends mostly survivors?

Although postwar history is a huge topic, there might be some

moments that made an impact on the life or the thoughts of the interviewee

who came to the United States. It will not be at all clear whether and in what

sense most survivors of the Holocaust related to some of the historical circum-

stances listed below until you begin to talk with them. It might be worth

exploring some areas with certain interviewees to get a sense of what, beyond

the private life of the individual, the Holocaust has sensitized or desensitized

in that individual’s perception of events. Here is a list of some possibilities:

1. Atom bomb and nuclear age

2. Japanese internment camps in the United States

3. The Cold War

4. The era of Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare

5. The Korean War

6. The Civil Rights Movement

7. The Vietnam War and the antiwar movements (such as the killing

of students at K

ent State and Jackson State Universities)

8.

The New-Left Movement

9. The Counter Culture

10. The Feminist Movement

11. The assassinations of Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther

King, Jr., Robert Kennedy

12. The presidencies of the United States from Truman to the present.

13. Israel as a state in 1948 and the wars of 1948, 1967, 1973, and 1982; the

trial of Eichmann in Jerusalem in April through August 1961; the

Intifada and negotiations with the Palestinians; the wars in Iraq; genocide

in Cambodia, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Darfur.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

37

S

UGGESTED QUESTIONS

page 38 blank

Chapter Overview

Arrival at the Interview, 40

Commencing the Interview, 40

Open-Ended and Specific Questions, 41

Interjecting vs. Interrupting, 41

Non-Verbal Responses, 41

Chronology of the Interview, 42

Taking Breaks, 42

Providing Historical Context, 42

Allocation of Time in the Interview, 43

Concluding the Interview, 44

Post-Holocaust Interviews, 44

Before Leaving the Interview, 45

Donation of Artifacts, 45

The oral history interview documents personal remembrances and

reflections. The interview should elicit details about everyday life in

cities, towns, ghettos, camps, and resistance movements, not just the

outline of a story or general reflections on the story. The interviewees’

day-to-day activities are essential—what they knew, saw, thought,

dreamed, and feared; who were their friends, lovers, enemies; their

experiences with ghetto

Judenrat leaders, Jewish police; in camps,

experiences with block leaders, Kapos (prisoners appointed to head

work groups in the camps) or Nazi officials; their work; their relationships;

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

39

VII. CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Arrival

at the

Interview

Commencing

the Interview

and even philosophic ruminations about their outlook on life, especially

if they can put their own experiences in greater historical context. These

details are important because they provide information that cannot be

found in any other type of historical documentation.

There is no one “right way” to conduct the interview, and there

are few rules. This chapter provides guidelines on creating a framework

for the interview, but we cannot provide a step-by-step guide for con-

ducting the interview. We hope, rather, that this chapter will evoke a

sense of what it is like to be engaged in an interview, and will provide

a starting point for further explorations into the interview process.

Before you arrive at the interview, prepare extensively, as detailed in the pre-

ceding chapters. When you arrive at the interview, put your personal concerns

about the interview aside and help the interviewee feel at ease. An interviewee

may wish to speak with you a little to “warm up” before jumping into the

interview. He or she may have questions about the interview. You may wish

to spend a fe

w minutes getting familiar with the interviewee, and getting a

sense of him or her. You may want to tell the interviewee that if he or she

wishes to take a br

eak at any point during the inter

vie

w, that would be fine.

Then, find a comfortable, quiet place to sit for the interview and/or proceed

into the studio.

If you are conducting an audio interview, see Chapter VIII

for more information on setting up and using your equipment; if you are

conducting a video interview, see Chapter IX.

If you are conducting an audio interview, see “Tape Slating” in Chapter VIII for

information on verbally “slating” the tape before asking your first question. Visually

slating the tape for video interviews is described in Chapter IX.

After you slate

the tape, we recommend that you formally begin the interview by asking the

interviewee to state his or her name at birth, date of birth, and place of birth.

40 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Open-Ended

and Specific

Questions

Interjecting

vs.

Interrupting

Non-Verbal

Responses

In his book Doing Oral History, Donald A. Ritchie suggests that open-ended

questions be used to introduce a subject with the interviewee, and specific

questions be used to follow up on the details. “Tell me about your family life

before the war,” is an example of an open-ended question, while “What was

your father’s occupation?” is a specific question. Ritchie suggests that opening

a subject with specific questions gives too much control to the interviewer

over the direction of the interview. According to Ritchie:

The use of open-ended questions has…been cited as a means of “empowering”

interviewees—that is, by encouraging interviewees to relate and to interpret

their own stories, such questions shift the balance of power from the inter-

viewer to the interviewee…. The interviewer may be asking the questions, but

the interviewee is actively shaping the course of the interview rather than

responding passively.

As an interviewer, you should avoid intrusive interruptions at all times, but be

prepared to interject questions at opportune moments. Ideally, you will have

the opportunity to interject a question without interrupting the flow of the

narrative. A rule of thumb for interjecting is to do so when the interviewee

makes a major transition in the narrativ

e. For example, if Mrs. X were chron-

icling her prewar life and then suddenly jumped to life in the ghetto, you may

wish to ask her to pause for a moment to answer a few questions. This would

be your best opportunity to ask whatever questions you have about prewar

life, then allow Mrs. X to resume her narrative about life in the ghetto.

M

ost oral histor

y inter

vie

ws will remain unedited, and many “uh-huhs” can

be distracting over the course of a few hours. Consequently, your responses,

except for questions, should be minimal. When you feel the need to respond,

but do not wish to ask a question, use ey

e contact or other forms of body

language to express yourself.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

41

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Taking

Breaks

Providing

Historical

Conte

xt

It is preferable that the interview be conducted in chronological order. When

guiding the direction of the interview, you may find that the interviewee has

a tendency to jump from 1941 to 1993 quickly. If this is the case, allow him

or her to pursue the thought, but when you have a chance, gently bring the

discussion back to 1941. No chronology is ever strict, and there is no sense in

trying to keep the interviewee from occasionally ranging out of the chrono-

logical framework. The human memory often draws parallels between two

events separated by great spans of time. It is your job to allow the interviewee

the freedom to explore those connections, while keeping track of where you

and the interviewee left off in the timeline of his or her life.

If the interviewee suddenly jumps, for example, from being in Warsaw

in 1941 to being in Bermuda in 1993 and then says something fascinating

about what happened in 1993 that you would like to follow up on, what

should y

ou do? Should you ask the question, or save it for when you have

chronologically reached the year of 1993 in the interview? Often it is best to

make a mental note on these occasions, and tell the interviewee, “I would like to

come back to that later. But right now, I have a question about Warsaw in 1941.”

For both audio and video interviews, you will have a natural built-in break every

half hour to an hour when you need to flip or change the tape. You may want to

use this opportunity to give the interviewee a chance to rest, to review your

questions, or to strategiz

e about topics you would like to explore when the tape

is running again. Or, if the interview has a momentum that you do not wish to

interrupt, you may choose to keep going instead of taking a break.

There is certain basic historical knowledge that we assume a researcher

listening to an inter

vie

w will hav

e, or will easily be able to learn. For example,

we will not ask an interviewee to define the term

Appell (camp roll call) each

time it is mentioned. However, we might ask the interviewee specific ques-

tions about the

A

ppell,

such as ho

w long it lasted.

W

e do not want to ask the

interviewee to give us a historical overview or lecture about things that he

or she did not directly witness. Rather, we want to extract details about the

inter

vie

wee’s own life.

42 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Chronology

of the

Interview

Allocation of

Time in the

Interview

There are, however, certain types of historical context that the inter-

viewee should provide during the interview. The interviewee should be

encouraged to anchor his or her experiences in a chronological and

geographical framework using dates, place names, and names of individuals,

including family members, wherever possible.

Where the interviewee does not remember specific dates or locations,

the interviewer can probe for clues of the general time frame or region in

which a given event may have taken place. For example, the interviewee may

remember the season in which an event took place, a political event that

marked the time, or a larger city or town that was near the location in question.

In conducting interviews that focus on the Holocaust era, the most significant

part of the inter

view should be the interviewee’s experiences during the

Holocaust and the war, rather than prewar or postwar life. However, it is

important to learn about one’s family and the sort of life lived before Nazi

persecution, just as it is important to know what happened in the inter-

viewee’s life after the war.

One should judge carefully about how much time is spent on the

details of prewar life, unless the interviewer knows that he or she can return

on another day to continue the interview, and thus can afford to dwell on

those details. Remember that many interviewees are elderly and their ability

to sustain a long interview in one sitting is not always possible. If you are lim-

ited to two hours, leav

e pr

e

war and postwar to about 20 minutes each. I

f too

much time is spent on prewar life, and the interviewee becomes exhausted, it

will be considerably mor

e difficult for the inter

viewee to speak about his or

her war

time experiences.

Even if you have time for a longer interview, you may want to limit the

telling of pr

e

war experiences, depending on the health and stamina of the

inter

vie

w

ee. I

f y

ou hav

e more time, you may wish to consider letting the

interviewee tell his or her complete story. If possible, you should allow at least

four hours per inter

view. Often people are finished with their story in three

hours—sometimes mor

e, sometimes less. F

lexibility is beneficial in the con

-

duct of an interview.

I

f you have the opportunity to continue the interview on another date,

this may be helpful in maximizing the stamina of both inter

vie

w

er and

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

43

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Post-

Holocaust

Interviews

interviewee. However, be sure to schedule additional interview sessions for the

very near future, since plans often change, and you may end up with an

awkward, unconcluded interview.

Generally, for interviews that focus on the Holocaust era, the interview

should be concluded after liberation, and preferably should cover some of the

details of the first years after the war, including the experience of living in a

displaced persons camp, if applicable, and emigration. If the interviewee has

knowledge of, or participated in, postwar revenge killings or beatings, this too

should be pursued. If the interviewee was a witness at war crimes trials, the

interviewee should be encouraged to talk about that as well.

Before concluding the interview, you may wish to take a break and

revie

w your notes for any questions you may not have asked.

Some good final

questions with which to conclude the interview are suggested in Chapter VI.

See “Beyond the War/Life After the Holocaust.”

Ideally, you would have the opportunity to track the interviewee’s life after the

war, and learn about his or her experiences with re-entering “normal” life.

However, this is difficult to do in one interview session. If you have the

opportunity to follow up with another interview session, in which life after

the war would be explor

ed, w

e encourage y

ou to do so

. Again, we recommend

that you schedule any follow-up interviews to take place in the near future.

When exploring post-H

olocaust life, it is impor

tant to learn how peo-

ple put their liv

es back together

, what sor

t of wor

k they did, wher

e they liv

ed

and with whom, and what effects the Holocaust had on their marriages

and/or families, and/or other r

elationships. I

n other words, the post-

H

olocaust inter

vie

w should explor

e ways in which liv

es w

ere rebuilt after the

war and what sort of impact, if any, the experiences and memories of the

H

olocaust had on the postwar lives of the interviewees.

S

ee “Postwar Experiences”

in Chapter

VI for suggested questions to explor

e in a post-H

olocaust inter

view

.

If the interviewee is a rescuer, liberator, war crimes prosecutor, perpe-

trator

, or bystander, the emphasis of the interview should naturally focus on

the impact of the H

olocaust and the war on their liv

es

.

44 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Concluding

the Interview

After the interview is completed, you may wish to spend some time with the

interviewee reviewing what will be done with the interview. It is a good idea

to send the interviewee a personal copy of the interview within several weeks.

If a note taker was present at the interview, this would be a good time

to take a few minutes to confirm spellings of personal names and obscure

places that came up during the interview. If the interviewee is too exhausted,

or if no note taker were present at the interview, it is highly recommended

that the interviewee be contacted with questions about proper spellings soon

after the interview is complete. If you plan to do this, ask the interviewee if

he or she would mind if you called with a few questions about spellings after

a summary or transcript of the interview has been written.

You may wish to inform the inter

viewee that if he or she has any artifacts or

documents related to the Holocaust, there are many archives and institutions

that collect such items. The Museum often collects donations from individuals,

and we encourage interviewees to contact us or another archive if they are

interested in investigating the possibility of long-term preservation of their

artifacts.

Contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Director of

Curatorial Affairs for more information about donating artifacts or documents.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

45

C

ONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

Before

Leaving the

Interview

Donation of

Artifacts

page 46 blank

Chapter Overview

Cassette Tapes and Batteries, 48

Labeling Tapes, 48

Recording Equipment, 49

Location/Setup, 51

Recording Level, 52

Starting to Record, 52

Tape Slating, 52

Monitoring the Recording, 53

Technical Troubleshooting, 53

The choice of whether to interview on audio or on video involves

several factors, such as the budget of the project, the planned use of the

interviews, and the preference of the interviewee. While audio inter-

views do not have as broad an appeal or potential audience as do video

interviews, they are much less expensive to produce and are more

archivally sound than their video counterparts. Additionally, audio

interviews are sufficient for most scholarly inquiries, where the emphasis

is on the interview transcript rather than the interview itself.

We have specifically tailored these guidelines for the professional

cassette recorders that the Oral History Branch uses for its audiotaped

interviews. However, much of the advice outlined here will be helpful

for conducting audio interviews, no matter what type of equipment

you use.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

47

VIII. TECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Cassette

Tapes and

Batteries

Labeling

Tapes

Our audio interviewers are trained to operate their own equip-

ment. We have found it best for the interviewer to operate the audio

equipment so as to avoid the added complication of using an audio

technician. It is most often advantageous to have as few people in the

room as possible during the interview, so that the intimacy of the inter-

view process may be maintained.

Use only 60 minute tapes. Shorter tapes are best for archival purposes,

because the tape itself is thicker and less likely to break than longer tapes.

Be sure to come to each interview with plenty of tapes, and with brand-new

batteries. “High” bias tapes are preferred over “normal” bias tapes.

Be sure to unwrap and label your tapes (preferably using a pencil so you can

re-label if you do not use all of the tapes) before you arrive at the interview.

You may wish to create professional labels at a later time. Each cassette case

should be labeled consistently. Below is our suggestion for information to

include on each tape case (you also may wish to include an internal cataloging

or tracking number for each inter

view):

[name of organization responsible for producing the interview]

Interview with [name of interviewee]

[your name], Interviewer

[date of interview], Tape [number] of [number].

On each tape, label at least one side as follows:

[name of interviewee], Tape [number] of [number].

48 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Recording

Equipment

The Oral History Branch uses stereo or mono cassette tape recorders for its

interviews. The difference between a stereo and a mono recorder is that a

stereo recorder has two channels, which record sound from the left and from

the right, while a mono recorder only has one channel. The mono recorder

and microphone are simpler to use, while the stereo recorder has the potential

advantage of providing you with the option of using two microphones, one

for the interviewer and one for the interviewee. It is advantageous to purchase

a recorder that has the capability of monitoring tape while recording, but that

is a luxury, and not necessary for a good recording.

Digital recording devices may well provide superior sound quality over

analogue records. This is a decision you will have to make after discussions

with experts. As of 2007, the Museum is still using analogue tape recorders.

No matter what type of equipment you use, be sure to experiment with your

recording equipment before you arrive at the interview.

Tape Recorder

There are only a few features on most tape recorders that you will be using

and referring to during the interview. These include the buttons that operate

the tape (

stop/eject, record, play, rewind (<<), fast forward (>>), pause); the fea-

tures that allow you to monitor what you are recording (the

monitor button

and the

monitor volume dial); and the features that allow you to control and

observe the level at which you are recording (

recording volume dials and VU

meters). If you have a limiter button on your recorder, we recommend that it

remain off. To record, the

play and record buttons on many recorders must be

pr

essed simultaneously

.

Before you begin recording, and especially if you are not getting a high

enough r

ecor

ding volume on your recording, check the microphone

attenuation

switch (may be labeled “MIC A

T

T” if y

ou hav

e one on y

our r

ecorder) to be

sure that it is set at “0.”

M

icr

ophone

A good microphone is essential to the creation of a quality recording. Do not

use a machine with an internal micr

ophone, as these microphones will record

the sound of the machine

’

s operation. Look for a good quality micr

ophone

with a large (phono) plug that will be less likely to slip out during the course

of an inter

view.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

49

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Every microphone has a “field”—a distance around it where it picks

up sound best. If the microphone is too close, the recording will be distorted.

If it is too far away, the voice will sound too faint.

If you have stereo capability and are using a stereo microphone, be aware

that one side of the microphone will pick up sound on the left channel, and the

other on the right channel. Stereo microphones are actually two microphones

in one; therefore, they have two jacks—a left and a right. Most stereo micro-

phones come with the left and the right jacks color-coded for easy identifica-

tion. For example, the right jack may be marked with a red piece of tape, and

the left jack with a gray piece of tape. Be sure that the microphone jacks are

plugged into the correct channels on your recorder (if you have any doubt about

whether or not your microphone is plugged in correctly, test it by speaking into

the left side of the microphone while wearing your headphones and making sure

that you are hearing your voice primarily in your left ear). Hold the microphone

at an angle towar

d the interviewee, so the interviewee speaks into the middle of

it, and the microphone picks up sound from the left and the right sides evenly.

If you have stereo capability and are using a mono microphone, plug

the microphone into the left channel for the sake of consistency. The

mic

mode

switch should then be set to mono.

Clip-on or lavaliere microphones may be used for both the interviewer

and the interviewee, if you are using a machine with stereo capacity. These

microphones are very convenient but can be problematic if, for example, the

interviewee forgets that he or she is wearing it and habitually fiddles with his

or her collar. The interviewer should make sure that the interviewee is aware

of the micr

ophone, and does not touch it during the inter

vie

w

. If you are

using a mono recorder, lavaliere microphones are problematic because they

will only r

ecor

d one person’s voice. The interviewer’s questions would thus be

lost if the lav

alier

e w

er

e clipped on to the inter

vie

wee.

If using a hand-held microphone, we recommend that you avoid the

use of micr

ophone stands.

We ask our interviewers to hand-hold the micro-

phone. H

olding the micr

ophone allo

ws the inter

vie

w

er to move with the

interviewee and thus achieve a consistent sound quality throughout the inter-

vie

w. Additionally, microphone stands may absorb sounds from the surfaces

on which they ar

e set. B

e awar

e that the micr

ophone also will pick up the

slight sounds that you make while handling it, so try to keep your handling

of the micr

ophone to a minimum.

S

ee “Location/Setup” in this chapter for more

infor

mation about positioning y

ourself and y

our equipment.

50 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Location/

Setup

Headphones

You should wear headphones throughout the interview. This allows you to

monitor the sound quality and be sure that you are recording. Be aware that

headphones have a left and a right side. They should be marked with an “R”

and an “L” above each earphone. We recommend that you purchase a good-

quality, comfortable set of headphones, as the cheaper ones can become quite

uncomfortable after long periods.

If you are conducting an audio interview, it will probably be in the interviewee’s

home. The interviewee will most likely have a favorite place to sit—probably

a sofa, and probably not at the kitchen table. As far as sound is concerned, a

sofa is a good place to conduct the interview. You want to be close to the inter-

viewee, without having a table between you, which would reflect the sound

and cause echoes. Ideally, you will have a coffee table next to the sofa where

you can put your equipment.

When considering where the interviewee should sit, pay attention to

what is behind the interviewee. Is there a door that may open during the

interview? Is there an open window? Both of these may create ambient noise

that can be avoided by seating the interviewee with his or her back to the most

quiet side of the room.

It is preferable that windows be closed and air conditioners turned

off during the interview. The ringer on the telephone should be turned off, if

possible. R

emember that r

efrigerators and air conditioners turn on and off

automatically, and cause unnecessary noise—a good argument not to conduct

the inter

vie

w in a kitchen. Use your best judgment as to whether

or not it is advisable to stop the inter

vie

w for a loud noise, such as a passing

airplane. It might be more important at that moment to let the person

continue talking.

The inter

vie

w

er must always balance the sound quality of the inter

vie

w

with the general comfort and ease of the interviewee. Too much fussing

can make a person feel ner

vous and inhibited when it is finally time to start

talking. H

o

w

ev

er

, keep in mind that for historical purposes, the tape must

be listenable.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

51

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Starting to

Record

Once you are seated and ready to start, get a recording “level” on the inter-

viewee’s voice. As you record, talk about the weather or a favorite subject of

chitchat. As your interviewee is speaking, adjust the

recording volume dials so

the needle on the

VU meters stays mostly below zero, only occasionally point-

ing into the “red zone” above zero.

Note that if you are using a stereo recorder, there will be two dials that

control the recording level, one for the left channel and one for the right

channel. If you are using a single point stereo microphone, these two dials

should stay together at the same level. If you are using two microphones (one

for the interviewer and one for the interviewee), adjust each meter individu-

ally according to the voice levels.

As you record, the needle on your

VU meter will bob back and forth

with the fluctuations in the level of the voice being recorded, but it should

generally stay between “0” and “-10” on the meter. The average level, in most

cases, should be at about “-4.” Occasional peaking into the r

ed zone is fine.

However, if the recording level is too high, the voice will become distorted, and

there is nothing you can do about that after the interview. It is better to have

the recording level too low than too high. If in doubt, turn down the

record-

ing volume

dials a little bit.

If you use digital equipment, different features may pertain.

After you have a recording level on the interviewee’s voice, rewind the tape to

the beginning, and be sur

e to leav

e a fe

w seconds blank at the beginning of

the tape before speaking. One of the most common mistakes that audio inter-

vie

w

ers make is to begin talking right at the beginning of the tape. The tape

will not actually r

ecor

d for about fiv

e to sev

en seconds fr

om the beginning.

We recommend that you slate the beginning of the interview and side A of

each tape b

y stating the following:

“

This is a [name of interviewing organization or project] interview with

[name of inter

vie

w

ee] conducted b

y [y

our name] on [date] in [location].

This is tape number [1, 2, etc.], side A.”

52 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Tape Slating

Recording

Level

Monitoring

the

Recording

The beginning of side B of each tape should be slated as follows:

“This is tape number [1, 2, etc.], side B of an interview with

[name of interviewee].”

After the interview is completed, state the following:

“This concludes the [name of interviewing organization or project] inter-

view with [name of interviewee].”

This is very important information should the label come off the tape or

become illegible.

For the majority of the inter

view, the

monitor button (if applicable) on your

recorder should be set on “Source.” About four to five times an hour, set the

monitor button to “Tape” to check how the recording sounds. This will cause

you to hear a time delay in sound; therefore, it is best to check the tape this

way when the interviewee is speaking, not when you are speaking.

Additionally, you should glance at the

VU meters four to five times an

hour to be sure that the recording level is right. During the interview, the level

of the interviewee’s voice may change—occasionally he or she may speak

loudly, and occasionally very quietly. Rather than adjusting the

recording vol-

ume

dials throughout these fluctuations, you can move the microphone away

fr

om or to

war

d the inter

viewee to control the recording level.

Be aware that, if you follow our recommendation, each side of tape will

be about 30 minutes or less.

Ther

efore, you will want to wear a watch or bring

a clock and glance at it occasionally to see ho

w much time is left on each side

of the tape. Try to anticipate the best time to flip the tape with minimal inter-

r

uption of the flo

w of the interview. If a digital recording device is used, dif-

fer

ent r

ules will apply

.

I

f you are recording on tape and cannot hear any sound going into the tape:

1.

Check that the microphone is plugged in (and turned on, if applicable).

2.

Check that the headphones are plugged in.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

53

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Technical

Trouble-

shooting

3. Adjust the recording volume dials (only if VU meters are staying

below -20).

4. Adjust the monitor volume.

If you are having trouble getting a high enough recording level:

1. Check that the “MIC ATT” switch is set at “0.”

If you cannot hear any sound when you play the tape back:

1. Check that the monitor button is set on “Tape,” not on “Source.”

2. Check that the headphones are plugged in.

3. Check that the monitor volume is turned high enough (clockwise).

If the tape is not moving:

1. Check that the tape is rewound (bulk of reel on the left).

2. Check that the

pause button is not depressed.

3. Check that there are batteries in the machine.

If you are hearing excessive background noise:

1. Turn down the recording volume dials.

54 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Studio/

Location

Setup

Chapter Overview

Studio/Location Setup, 55

Composition, 56

Lighting, 56

Sound, 56

Other Technical Considerations, 56

Tape Slating, 57

The Interviewee, 58

The Interviewer, 58

The decision to interview on video should be a carefully considered

one, especially if the oral history project conducting the interviews has

a limited budget.

See the introduction to Chapter VIII, Technical

Guidelines for Audio Interviews, for some notes on the advantages and dis-

advantages of recording an interview on video versus audio.

I

deally, there should be a large interview space so there is enough room for the

video equipment, technical cr

e

w

, inter

vie

wer, and interviewee. There should

be enough distance between the interviewee and the background for depth of

field. M

ost importantly, the site should be free, inside and outside, of noise

inter

fer

ence.

In a studio, the set should be very simple. A cyc (backdrop screen) is

needed that can be lit in a variety of ways. Mottled gray, brown, or blue are

suggested colors for the cy

c, without too much chr

oma or color intensity

.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

55

IX. TECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

Composition

Lighting

Sound

Other Technical

Considerations

Composition for on-location interviews should not include any distracting

objects. The Museum prefers an out-of-focus, soft background with nothing

definable behind the interviewee. The background should never intrude.

All Museum interviews are shot from the shoulder up, or in some cases,

starting from a few inches below the shoulder, depending on the interviewee.

In most cases, the interview is shot in a locked-down position, while attention

is paid to accommodating the interviewee’s body movements. On rare occa-

sions, one might come in closer than the shoulder shot.

A soft 750 watt light should be used as the key with a back light as a kick for

good separation from the background. There must be adequate light in the inter-

viewee’s eyes, and for the Museum’s interviews, some shading is created on one

side of the intervie

wee’s face and shoulder. The lighting should not be flat. (Diffus-

ion gels or light are sometimes used to warm up the look—not to add color.)

We recommend that you use both a directional boom microphone and a lava-

liere (clip-on microphone) for the interviewee. Microphone the interviewer

with a lavaliere. The boom should be near the interviewee. The interviewer

should speak clearly and at a normal, audible level (not too softly), or it will

be difficult to hear him or her. There should be two channels for audio—one

for the lav

alier

e micr

ophones and one for the boom micr

ophone.

During the interview, if unavoidable sound interference occurs (such as

an airplane flying o

v

erhead), stop the interview when it becomes too loud and

distracting, then continue when the sound has abated.

1. We recommend Betacam-SP NTSC equipment and tape stock for inter-

vie

ws in the United States and Canada, and prefer them if the

inter

vie

w is

being shot in another countr

y

. Betacam-SP PAL or SECAM

is acceptable if NTSC (standard in North America, Japan, and Brazil) is

not av

ailable.

56 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

Tape Slating

2. We recommend that if you cannot use Betacam-SP equipment and want

to use VHS equipment and tape, that you record the interview simulta-

neously on audiotape. Audio cassettes last much longer than VHS tapes,

and the sound quality usually will be much better than if recorded solely

on VHS.

3. Lay down one minute of color bars and tone at the beginning of

each tape.

4. Set the time code at hour 1 for tape 1, hour 2 for tape 2, etc.

5. Do not use any diffusion on the camera.

6. Do not cut the camera without the producer’s direction.

7. If photographs, documents, or artifacts are to be shown, a stand or table

should be set up so the interviewee can explain off-camera what is on the

screen. The stand should have a black background so the artifact, docu-

ment, or photo can be easily seen. U

nder no circumstances should you

have someone hold the picture in his or her hands when it is being filmed.

8. If using a digital videorecorder, consult with experts as to proper use.

The visual slate on each tape should show the name of the organization, the

name of the interviewee, the date of the interview, the place of the interview

if y

ou wish, and the tape number (for example, Tape 1 of 3). You should ask

the interviewee exactly how he or she wants his or her name on the screen—

with or without a maiden name or name at bir

th, if differ

ent fr

om what is

used now. It is easiest to do the slating after the interview is complete.

I

f y

ou do not have the capacity to create a visual slate after the

inter

vie

w

, y

ou can write or type out the slate information and hav

e the

camera shoot it, while simultaneously verbally stating all of the above infor-

mation befor

e commencing the inter

view.

S

ee “

Tape Slating” in Chapter VIII

for mor

e infor

mation.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

57

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

The

Interviewer

The camera in the Museum’s interviews is on the interviewee at all times

(except when viewing photographs or artifacts). We recommend that the

interviewee look at the interviewer, not the camera.

If the interviewee wears glasses, ask him or her if they are required for

comfort. If not, it is preferable not to wear glasses during the interview. In

addition, use a small amount of face powder to prevent face and head shine,

only when necessary.

The interviewer should sit as close to the camera lens as possible and at eye

level with the camera.

58 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

T

ECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

The

Interviewee

Thanking the

Interviewee

Creating

Interview

Finding Aids

Chapter Overview

Thanking the Interviewee, 59

Creating Interview Finding Aids, 59

Use and Storage of Tapes, 60

Donating the Interview to the Museum, 60

A day or two after the interview, you may wish to call the interviewee, find

out how he or she is doing, and thank him or her for the interview. Often,

the period immediately following the interview is a painful one for Holocaust

survivors—or survivors and witnesses of other traumatic events—especially

if they have seldom spoken in detail about their experiences. You also may

send a personal thank you letter to the interviewee.

Perhaps the most time-consuming part of the inter

view process comes after

the inter

view itself is completed. Although it demands time, the creation of

finding aids for the interview (such as transcript and/or summary) is one of

the most important aspects of the process. A transcribed and/or summarized

interview is one that will be most accessible to scholars, researchers, and edu-

cators. Be sure to include important dates, place names, personal names, and

events that are mentioned in the interview. Once a group of interviews has

been created, a catalog and index of the interviews are of great importance in

providing access to the interviews.

For further reading on creating interview

finding aids, see “Oral History Methodology, Management, and Preservation” in

Appendix 5.

The Oral History Branch often creates both a transcript and a brief

summary for each of the taped interviews that it produces; for a number of

projects, we only create detailed summaries. Creating transcripts is time con-

suming and, if the help of a paid transcriber is required, expensive. Many inter-

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

59

X. AFTER THE INTERVIEW

Use and

Storage of

Tapes

Donating the

Interview to

the Museum

viewers transcribe their own interviews, which provides an excellent opportu-

nity for the interviewer to revisit the details and reflect upon the content of

the interview.

See Appendices 7–10 for the Oral History Branch’s written guide-

lines for creating certain interview finding aids, such as transcribing the interview,

copy checking the transcript, authenticating the transcript, and writing sum-

maries.

Do not listen to the master tapes after the interview has been completed.

Three or more copies of the interview should be made as soon as possible—

a “protection copy” (also known as “protection master” or “sub-master”), one

or two “user copies” (also known as “reference copies”), and a copy for the inter-

viewee. The original “master” tape should be kept in a climate-controlled room

and should be used only on rare occasions (such as to cr

eate additional protec-

tion copies). The protection copy should be used to make additional copies of

the tape if requested by researchers or needed for other purposes. It also should

be kept in a climate-controlled (approximately 60 degrees F; 35 percent relative

humidity) room. The user copy should be made available for common use. You

may also wish to make a special copy for a transcriber or summarizer.

If you wish to donate the interview(s) that you conduct to the Museum,

contact the Chief Ar

chivist of the Ar

chiv

es for mor

e information.

60 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

FTER THE INTERVIEW

A

PPENDIX 1

Sample Preliminary Interview Survivor Questionnaire

INTERVIEWER NAME DATE

General Information

Name:

(Last) (First) (Middle and/or Maiden)

See the second to last page of questionnaire for address and phone information (CONFIDENTIAL).

Occupation: Date of birth:

Category of experience

(Check as many as apply):

❑ Survivor ❑ Witness

❑ Rescuer ❑ Other

❑ Liberator

Category of survivor (Check as many as apply):

❑ Jewish ❑ Handicapped

❑ Sinti/Roma (Gypsy) ❑ Jehovah’s Witness

❑ POW ❑ Homosexual

❑ Political Prisoner ❑ Other

Have you ever been interviewed about your experiences during the Holocaust? ❑ Yes ❑ No

W

as your testimony ever r

ecor

ded?

❑ Y

es

❑ N

o

R

ecorded on:

❑ A

udio

❑ V

ideo

Date of interview(s):

O

rganization(s) that conducted inter

vie

w(s) (I

nclude addr

ess[es], if possible):

D

o y

ou wish to be included in the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors?

❑ Y

es

❑ N

o

M

ay this preliminary interview questionnaire and the summary to be written based on it be used for

r

esear

ch purposes?

❑ Yes ❑ No

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

61

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

62 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Prewar Life

Childhood

P

lace of birth:

(City/Town) (Country)

Name at birth (if different from current name):

Other names used between 1933–1945:

Where did you grow up?:

(City/Town) (Country)

(City/Town) (Country)

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Occupations of parents, family life, special occasions, holidays.

2. School, friends, hobbies.

3. Nature of religious life within family and community.

4. Recollections of city or town before the war.

5. Presence of antisemitism before war; incidents in town, school.

6. When did Nazis come to power in your country, in your town?

7. When did

you personally become aware of Nazi presence? Recollections of seeing Nazis, feelings.

8. Recollections of escalation of Nazi power:

a. If in Germany—April 1933 boycott, book burnings, Nuremberg race laws, Kristallnacht

(“Night of Broken Glass”).

b. Elsewhere—Jews prohibited from public places, forced labor, imposition of Star of David,

destruction of Jewish property, forced out of homes and businesses.

N

otes:

Prewar Life (continued)

Family Background

F

ather’s name:

Place of birth: Date of birth:

(City/Town) (Country)

Did he survive?

❑ Yes ❑ No

Mother’s name:

Place of birth: Date of birth:

(City/Town) (Country)

Did she survive?

❑ Yes ❑ No

Names of siblings, if any:

Names and addresses of family members who survived the Holocaust:

Name: Relationship:

Address: Phone:

Name: Relationship:

Address: Phone:

Name: Relationship:

Address: Phone:

Notes:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

63

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences

Ghettos and Transit Camps

1.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

2.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

3.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

4.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

5.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Deportation to ghetto/transit camp:

a. How were you notiﬁed that you would be leaving?

b. What did you bring? What do you remember feeling about leaving?

c. Describe deportation; how did you travel?

d. Recollections of arrival in the new place; ﬁrst impressions.

2. Recollections about getting adjusted; did you ﬁnd people from your town?

3. Living conditions, food, how many people living together?

4. Work, daily life.

5. Any cultural or social activities; friends, recreation.

6. Was deportation out of ghetto/camp a threat? Did you hear about it? How?

7. Communication with lo

v

ed ones outside of ghetto/camp

, with people in ghetto/camp

.

8. News of the outside world.

N

otes:

64 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences (continued)

Labor Camps, Prisons, Concentration/Extermination Camps

1.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

2.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

3.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

4.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

5.

(Ghetto/Camp) (Location) (Dates) (Work Group)

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Deportation to camp:

a. How did you get to camp?

b. Conditions during travel; speciﬁc recollections.

2. Describe arrival, ﬁrst impressions of camp/prison (Did you know where you were?).

3. Speciﬁc living conditions, food, sanitation.

4. Slave labor, work, daily life.

5. Illness, physical problems.

6. Contact with family, friends, people from home, from ghetto.

7. Recollections of SS ofﬁcers, Nazi perpetrators.

8. Speciﬁc events that stand out in memory.

Notes:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

65

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences (continued)

Hiding

L

ocation:

(City/Town) (Country)

By whom?

With whom?

Dates:

If multiple experiences in hiding:

Location:

(City/Town) (Country)

By whom?

With whom?

Dates:

Are you still in contact with the person(s) who hid you?

❑ Yes ❑ No

Name:

Address:

Phone:

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Ho

w did you come to be hidden? Recollections about going into hiding, speciﬁc circumstances.

2. D

escribe people who hid you; what was your relationship with them?

3. What kind of hiding? Were you literally hidden from the world or did you have a false identity?

4. D

escribe place wher

e y

ou hid, how much mov

ement, what did you do all day?

5. F

eelings, r

ecollections about being hidden.

6. How did you emerge from hiding?

Notes:

66 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences (continued)

Escape

E

scape from:

Escape to:

Date of escape:

If multiple escapes:

Escape from:

Escape to:

Date of escape:

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Describe preparations, if any, for escape.

2. How did you decide to escape?

3. Describe others who escaped with you; if alone, how did you decide to go on your own?

4. Describe speciﬁc circumstances of escape; did it go as planned?

5. What happened after escape?

6. Emotions? Did you think about getting caught; what made you do it?

Notes:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

67

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences (continued)

Resistance

1

.

(Name of group) (Location)

2.

(Name of group) (Location)

3.

(Name of group) (Location)

If you were involved in resistance, but not part of an organized movement, how did you ﬁnd ways to oppose

the Nazis?

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

If you were part of an organized resistance movement:

1. Describe how you got involved in the resistance.

2. Recollections of speciﬁc people with whom you worked; do you know what happened to any of them?

3. What kind of resistance activities took place, what tasks did you do?

4. Name and nature of resistance group; how was it organized?

5. How did the group live; where were you located?

6. Speciﬁc recollections of events, such as sabotage.

7.

W

as the gr

oup armed?

N

otes:

68 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Holocaust/Wartime Experiences (continued)

Liberation

L

ocation:

Date: By whom:

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. Describe circumstances leading up to and just prior to liberation.

2. First impressions of liberators.

3. What do you recall about the moment when you realized you were “free?”

4. What did you do during ﬁrst few days after liberation?

5. What was condition of camp and prisoners at the time of liberation?

6. What happened to perpetrators?

7. Recollections of cleanup of camp (ghetto or town if applicable); Allied presence.

8. Emotions, thoughts during this time.

Notes:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

69

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Postwar Experiences

Displaced Persons Camps

1.

(Name) (City/Town) (Country) (Dates)

2.

(Name) (City/Town) (Country) (Dates)

3.

(Name) (City/Town) (Country) (Dates)

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. When and how did you get to the displaced persons camp?

2. What happened while you were in the displaced persons camp? Illness, recovery?

3. Did you ﬁnd members of family, old friends?

4. When did you leave the displaced persons camp, and how?

5. Where did you go? Describe journey.

6. How did you adjust to “normal” life after the Holocaust? What were problems you faced?

Notes:

70 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Postwar Experiences (continued)

Emigration

T

o:

(City) (Country) (Date)

To:

(City) (Country) (Date)

To:

(City) (Country) (Date)

Suggested questions/topics of discussion:

1. When, how, why did you decide to emigrate?

2. How did you choose where to go?

3. What were actual circumstances of emigration?

4. How did you adjust to life in the new country?

5. Describe living conditions, work, family in the new country.

Notes:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

71

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

Objects

Do you have objects from before, during, or immediately after the war period (for example, personal memora-

bilia, documents, photographs, correspondence, stamps, coins, diaries, works of art, books, magazines, family

p

apers, music)?

❑ Y

es

❑ N

o

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum?

❑ Yes Date: ❑ No

Would you be willing to have someone from the Collections or Photo Archive Departments contact you about

a donation to the Museum?

❑ Yes ❑ No

If yes, please complete the following:

Object name(s):

Place of origin:

Date of origin:

Ownership:

Description:

Object name(s):

Place of origin:

Date of origin:

Ownership:

Description:

72 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

This page of the questionnaire is CONFIDENTIAL and to be reviewed only by USHMM staff.

Interviewee Contact Information

Address:

(Street)

(City) (State) (Zip)

Home Phone: Work Phone:

Second Address:

(Street)

(City) (State) (Zip)

Phone:

Personal Contacts

Name of spouse or companion, if applicable:

Is he or she a survivor or witness of the Holocaust? ❑ Yes ❑ No

If yes, would he or she be willing to be contacted regarding his/her Holocaust experiences? ❑ Yes ❑ No

Any other friends or acquaintances with Holocaust experiences whom you feel we should contact for a potential

interview? If yes:

Name:

P

hone:

Address:

Relation to interviewee:

Name:

P

hone:

Address:

Relation to interviewee:

R

ecord any additional information below:

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

73

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

This page of the questionnaire is CONFIDENTIAL and to be reviewed only by USHMM staff.

Comments on Preliminary Interview

If interview conducted in person, check here ❑

How was person referred to us?

Clarity of memory:

Clarity of description:

Fluency of spoken English:

Explain in a paragraph your opinion of the interviewee’s ability to tell his or her story. For example, was

speaking overly difﬁcult or painful? Was the interviewee able to contextualize his/her experiences? Could you

understand and follow the sequence of events?

I

f interviewee indicates that he or she would like to be interviewed in a language other than English,

tell him or her that we usually do not do this, but we will try to be accommodating.

Language of prefer

ence:

74 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 1 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SURVIVOR QUESTIONNAIRE

A

PPENDIX 2

Sample Preliminary Interview Summary

Interviewee: Marthe Cohn

Conducted via telephone on December 10, 1993

Interviewer and summarizer: Edith Black

Marthe Cohn (hereafter referred to as MC) was born in the northeast corner

of France, in Metz, just below the German border, on April 13, 1920. Her

name at birth was Marthe Hoffnung. In 1939, before the war began, the

government requested that all families with ﬁnancial means move out of

Metz. MC’s family moved to Poitiers, where her uncle lived. From September

1939 until June 1940, “nothing r

eally happened”—one couldn’t tell that

ther

e was a war. Then, Jewish refugees started pouring in. Poitiers was in

occupied territory—restrictions, yellow star imposed. Yet the French popula-

tion was helpful. While in Poitiers, MC went to the Red Cross nursing

school.

In the summer of 1942, the family escaped from Poitiers to the unoc-

cupied side. They all had forged ID cards. MC’s sister had been arrested

because it was discovered that she was helping French POWs coming back

from the East escape to unoccupied side. MC also was involved in these

operations. They knew a family of farmers who helped them get the

POWs through.

MC ﬁnished school with the Red Cross in Marseilles. She had met an

Alsacian woman, Mrs. Kelly, who was the Director of the Red Cross for the

entire region. MC told Mrs. Kelly that she was Jewish, and she wanted to

ﬁnish school. Mrs. Kelly accepted her and sent her to a local ofﬁce. When she

arrived, she was rejected because she was Jewish. Upon hearing this news,

Mrs. Kelly told the local ofﬁce that they must accept her. They did, but made

MC miserable for the ﬁrst several months that she worked there.

F

r

om M

arseilles, MC mo

ved to Paris, where she lived in an apartment

with her sister, and found a job with a family who did not know that she

was Jewish.

MC w

ent to Alsace and joined the F

r

ench army as soon as Paris was

liberated. It was General de Lattre de Tassigny’s First Army. Was in Alsace

until the campaign of Alsace in 1944, before the war had ended. At that

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

75

A

PPENDIX 2 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SUMMARY

point, the colonel found out that she could speak and read German, and she

was asked to do intelligence work for France. She was trained, then sent to

Germany. Swiss intelligence helped her cross over through Switzerland. MC

was in Germany for three weeks working under cover as a German nurse. She

tried to build a radio and give information to the French army about what was

happening. She was able to ﬁnd out when the Germans had left the Siegfried

line, and gave the information to France when they came into Freiburg. MC

received two Croix de Guerre medals for her work, signed by de Lattre and

de Gaulle. After the war, MC went to Vietnam with the French army.

MC was chief of department in French headquarters in a German

town near the Austrian border for a year after the war ended. No German

could travel without her authorization. She refused to be paid for what she

had done.

MC met her husband in Geneva in 1953. She was in school there with

the Red C

ross studying to become a Swiss certiﬁed nurse. In 1956, they came

to the United States.

76 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 2 / SAMPLE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW SUMMARY

A

PPENDIX 3

Sample Interviewee Overview

Overview of Experiences

In preparation for taped interview; written July 14, 1996

Mrs. Marthe Cohn

Rescuer, Resistance

• Born: April 13, 1920, in Metz, France (NE corner of France)

• Name at birth: Hoffnung

• Names: Marthe Ulrich (when a spy in Germany); Jacquelyn Lenotre

(her name if captured, so as not to endanger her family)

• Eight children in her family; one died at Auschwitz

• In 1939, government requested that families with ﬁnancial means move

out of Metz.

• Her family moved to Poitiers in June ’40. Jewish refugees started

pouring in.

• Poitiers was in occupied territory (restrictions, yellow star).

• MC w

ent to Red Cross nursing school.

• Summer ’42, family escaped from Poitiers to unoccupied side. They all

had forged ID cards.

• Sister arrested because helping French POWs coming back from East;

MC also involved with these activities.

• MC ﬁnished schooling in Marseilles; had difﬁculties because she

was Jewish.

• Went to Paris, lived with her sister, through an agency found a job with

a family who did not know she was Jewish.

• Joined French army as soon as Paris was liberated: Gen de Lattre De

Tassigny’s First Army; joined in Alsace.

•

N

urse and spy for the F

r

ench army

• When they learned she could read/speak German, she was asked to do

intelligence work (during campaign of Alsace in 1944).

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

77

A

PPENDIX 3 / SAMPLE INTERVIEWEE OVERVIEW

• Sent to Germany; Swiss intelligence helped her cross into Switzerland.

• Was in Germany for three weeks, under cover as a German nurse.

• Able to ﬁnd out when the Germans had left the Siegfried line and gave

info to France when they came into Frieburg (info she gave made it eas-

ier for them to invade).

• Helped POWs escape to French unoccupied zone and did same for

her family.

• Two of her brothers also active in French resistance; Frederick was in

charge of French resistance and communicated with London. Brother

Arnold also very active.

• Spoke German; sent to Germany to retrieve info about German under-

ground for French army.

• Received two Croix de Guerre medals for her work, signed by Generals

de Lattre and de Gaulle.

• Others involved: J

ack Deleaunay (shot by Germans) was MC’s ﬁancé,

helped her to rescue her family; Stephanie Hoffnung (deported and died

in Auschwitz); Marc Deleaunay (shot by Germans).

• MC r

escued: Siporah Bleitrach (grandmother

, France); Regine Hoffnung

(mother); Ephrain Hoffnung (father); Helene Hoffnung (sister); Rosy

Hoffnung (sister); Jackie Farber (cousin).

After war:

• After war

, MC went to Vietnam with the French army.

• Was chief of dept. in French headquarters in German town near Austrian

border for a year after war ended. (No German could travel without her

authorization.)

• 1953 Met husband in Geneva; MC was in school there with Red Cross

studying to become a Swiss certiﬁed nurse.

• 1956 Came to U.S.

78 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 3 / SAMPLE INTERVIEWEE OVERVIEW

A

PPENDIX 4

Sample Interview Research List

Oral History Branch

Interview with Mrs. Marthe Cohn

Research List

1. Maps depicting France: Paris, Metz, Alsace, Poitiers, Marseilles;

Switzerland (from

National Geographic Atlas of the World);

Unoccupied and occupied zones of France; Freiburg, France

(Historical Atlas of the Holocaust).

2. B

audot, Marcel et al., ed.

The H

istorical Encyclopedia of World War II,

trans. Jesse Dilson (New York: Facts On File, 1989), s.v. “Lattre de

Tassigny.”

3. Dear, I. C. B., ed.

The Oxford Companion to World War II (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1995), s.v. “French Forces of the Interior,”

“France—Armed F

orces, Army, Intelligence, Resistance,” “Gaulle,

Brig-General Charles de and the Free French,” “Lattre de Tassigny,

General Jean-Marie de,” “West Wall.”

4. Ehrlich, Blake.

Resistance: France, 1940–1945 (Boston: Little, Brown and

Co., 1965), ﬁgs. 1–18.

5. Encyclopaedia Judaica Research Foundation.

Encyclopaedia Judaica

(Jerusalem: Encyclopaedia Judaica, corrected ed.), s.v. “Metz,”

“Poitiers,” “Marseilles,” “Alsace,” “France—Holocaust Period.”

6. G

utman, I

srael, ed.

E

ncy

clopedia of the H

olocaust

(N

e

w

Y

ork: Macmillan

Publishing, 1990), s.v. “France.”

7. Latour

, Anny

.

The J

ewish R

esistance in F

rance, 1940–1944,

trans. I

r

ene R.

Ilton. (New York: Holocaust Library, 1981), 130–138 and ﬁgs. 1–29.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

79

A

PPENDIX 4 / SAMPLE INTERVIEW RESEARCH LIST

8. Weitz, Margaret Collins. Sisters in the Resistance: How Women Fought to

Free France, 1940–1945.

(New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1995),

286–307, 64–65, 173–175, 187.

compiled 7/22/96

80 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 4 / SAMPLE INTERVIEW RESEARCH LIST

A

PPENDIX 5

Selected Bibliography

This bibliography does not attempt to be comprehensive, rather it offers a start-

ing point for those doing oral histories about the Holocaust. For a more detailed

bibliography on the Holocaust, check the Museum Web site; go to “Education”

and view the resource book entitled

Teaching about the Holocaust.

Selected Bibliography

General History

Friedlander, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933–1939. Harper Collins,

1997.

———.

Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933–1945. Harper Collins, 2007.

Hilberg, Raul.

The Destruction of the European Jews. 3 vols. New York:

Holmes & Meier, 1985, and Yale University Press, 2003.

Yahil, Leni.

The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932–1945. Trans.

Ina Friedman and Haya Galai. New York: Oxford University, 1990.

History, Specialized

Berenbaum, Michael, ed. A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and

M

urdered by the Nazis.

N

ew York: New York University, 1990.

Rittner, Carol and John K. Roth, eds.

Different Voices: Women and the

Holocaust.

New York: Paragon House, 1993.

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Anthologies

Edelheit, Abraham J. and Hershel Edelheit. History of the Holocaust:

A Handbook and Dictionary.

Boulder: Westview, 1994.

Encyclopaedia Judaica Research Foundation.

Encyclopaedia Judaica.

Jerusalem: Encyclopaedia Judaica, corrected ed.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

81

A

PPENDIX 5 / SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Israel Gutman, ed. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan, 1990.

Marrus, Michael R., ed.

The Nazi Holocaust: Historical Articles on the

Destruction of European Jews.

9 vols. Westport: Meckler, 1989.

Zentner, Christian and Friedemann Bedürftig, eds.

Encyclopedia of the Third

Reich.

New York: Macmillan, 1991.

Geographic Places, Ghettos, and Camps

Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death

Camps.

Bloomington: Indiana University, 1987.

Baker, Zachary M., comp.

Bibliography of Eastern European Memorial

(Yizkor) Books.

New York: Jewish Genealogical Society, 1992.

Czech, Danuta.

Auschwitz Chronicle, 1939–1945. New York: H. Holt, 1990.

Kugelmass, Jack and Jonathan Boyarin, trans. and eds.

From a Ruined Garden:

The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry.

New York: Schocken, 1983.

Martin Weinmann, ed.,

Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem. Frankfurt am

Main: Zweitausendeins, 1990.

Mogilanski, Roman, comp. and ed.

The Ghetto Anthology: A Comprehensive

Chr

onicle of the E

xter

mination of J

ewr

y in N

azi D

eath Camps and

Ghettos in Poland.

Los Angeles, CA: American Congress of Jews from

P

oland and S

urvivors of Concentration Camps, 1985.

Mokotoff, Gary and Sallyann Amdur Sack.

Where Once We Walked: A Guide

to the J

ewish Communities D

estroyed in the Holocaust.

T

eaneck, NJ:

A

v

otaynu, 1991.

N

ational Geographic Society.

N

ational Geographic Atlas of the World,

6th ed.

W

ashington, DC: N

ational G

eographic S

ociety

, 1990.

S

eltzer, Leon E., ed.

The Columbia L

ippincott Gazetteer of the World.

N

ew

Y

or

k: Columbia U

niv

ersity

, 1964.

82 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 5 / SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Historical Atlas of the

Holocaust.

New York: Macmillan, 1995.

Chronologies

Edelheit, Hershel. A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the

Holocaust and World War II.

New York: Greenwood, 1991.

Messenger, Charles.

The Chronological Atlas of World War Two. New York:

Macmillan, 1989.

Wiesenthal, Simon.

Every Day Remembrance Day: A Chronicle of Jewish

Martyrdom.

New York: H. Holt, 1987.

Young, Peter, ed.

The World Almanac Book of World War II. Englewood

Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981.

Resources for Further Research

Mokotoff, Gary. How to Document Victims and Locate Survivors of the

Holocaust,

with a foreword by Benjamin Meed. Teaneck, NJ:

Avotaynu, 1995.

Ringelheim, Joan, comp.

A Catalogue of Audio and Video Collections of

Holocaust Testimony.

2nd ed. New York: Greenwood, 1992.

S

hulman,

W

illiam L., ed.

A

ssociation of H

olocaust O

rganizations Directory.

B

ayside, NY

: Q

ueensbor

ough Community College, 1996.

USHMM.

I

nter

national Catalogue of Audio and Video Holocaust Testimonies,

to be found at ushmm.org under “R

esear

ch.”

O

r

al H

istor

y M

ethodology, Management, and Preservation

Schor

zman,

T

erri A., ed.

A P

r

actical I

ntr

oduction to

Videohistory: The

Smithsonian Institution and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Experiment.

M

alabar, FL: Krieger, 1993.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

83

A

PPENDIX 5 / SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baum, Willa K. Transcribing and Editing Oral History. Nashville, TN:

AASLH, 1977.

Eliach, Yaffa, ed.

Holocaust Oral History Manual. Center for Holocaust

Studies Newsletter, vol. 3, no. 7. New York: Center for Holocaust

Studies, 1991.

Frisch, Michael. A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral

and Public History.

Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1990.

Grele, Ronald J., ed.

Envelopes of Sound: The Art of Oral History. 2nd ed.

New York: Praeger, 1991.

Neuenschwander, John A. Oral History and the Law. Rev. ed. Waco, TX:

Oral H

istory Association Pamphlet Series, 1993.

Oral History Association.

Oral History Evaluation Guidelines. 2nd ed. Waco,

TX: Oral History Association, 1991.

Ritchie, Donald.

Doing Oral History. New York: Twayne, 1995.

Stielow, Frederick J.

The Management of Sound Archive Administration. New

York: Greenwood, 1986.

W

ar

d, Alan.

A M

anual of Sound A

r

chiv

e Administration.

B

r

ookﬁeld,

VT

:

Gower, 1990.

84 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 5 / SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A

PPENDIX 6

Guidelines for Note Taking

The guidelines below are used by note takers during videotaped interviews.

These guidelines can be adapted for use by other individuals and organizations

producing oral history interviews.

Guidelines for Note Taking

at Oral History Interviews Recorded on Video

Overview of Note Taking

If a video interview is being conducted in a studio, it is helpful to have some-

one attend the interview to assist with note taking and other tasks. I

n this

scenario, the assistant sits in the gr

eenroom, a separate room from the studio,

where he or she views the interview on a television monitor as it is being con-

ducted. There, the assistant can take notes as the interview transpires without

distracting the interviewee and interviewer.

While viewing the interview, the assistant writes down phonetic

spellings of those names, geographic places, words, acronyms, and phrases

that may be difﬁcult to spell later when the intervie

w is being transcribed.

Such difﬁculties most commonly arise with respect to foreign geographic

places, words, phrases, and the names of the interviewee’s friends and relations.

When the interview is concluded, the assistant asks the interviewee to

spend a few minutes correcting or verifying spellings.

After the transcript of an interview is produced, someone does the copy

checking (checking the accuracy of the transcript against the interview itself).

Next, a research assistant may authenticate the transcript by verifying facts

and spellings, and possibly adding footnotes where necessary. Notes that were

taken at the interview help make the copy checking and authentication pro-

cedures run more smoothly.

While these guidelines per

tain only to note taking, the inter

vie

w

er may

ask the assistant to help with other matters, such as helping to make the inter-

viewee feel comfortable or by photocopying any materials that the interviewee

may hav

e br

ought to the inter

view. Also, if an interviewee is accompanied by

a spouse or companion, that person can sit in the greenroom with the assis-

tant to watch the interview on the monitor.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

85

A

PPENDIX 6 / GUIDELINES FOR NOTE TAKING

The Importance of Note Taking

After an interview has been conducted, a copy of the tapes is sent out to

be transcribed. Because transcribers usually are not specialists in Holocaust

studies, there are frequent misspellings or phonetic spellings in the transcript

that is produced.

When an assistant takes notes during the interview and the interviewee

veriﬁes spellings, the process of correcting misspellings and phonetic spellings

goes much more quickly and can save one or two workdays of tracking down

words and phrases.

Bring to Interview

1. Geographic Authority List (This list of the most common foreign geo-

graphic places pertaining to Holocaust history is available from the

Museum

’s Oral History Branch.)

2. Lined paper

3. Pen or pencil

4. Copies of pertinent documents from the interviewee’s ﬁle

Before the Interview Starts

Introduce yourself to the interviewee and explain that you will be viewing the

interview from a room that is separate from the studio where the interview

will take place. Verify ahead of time if it will be OK to ask some questions

about spellings once the inter

vie

w is concluded. (R

emind the inter

viewer to

bring the interviewee back to the greenroom after the interview is concluded.)

R

evie

w the documents from the interviewee’s ﬁle to familiarize your-

self with his or her experiences.

W

rite at the top of the ﬁrst piece of paper:

Page

N

otes taken at interview with:

N

otes taken b

y:

Date:

S

ounds like: Veriﬁed by interviewee:

86 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 6 / GUIDELINES FOR NOTE TAKING

For subsequent pages, write the following at the top:

Page

(Name of interviewee)

Sounds like: Veriﬁed by interviewee:

During the Interview

Listen for any words or phrases that may be unclearly spoken or difﬁcult to

spell. These may include English words, but most often they will be foreign

words and phrases. Focus on:

1. Geographic places (street names, cities/towns, etc.)

2. Names, such as friends and relations, organizations, schools, buildings, etc.

3. Acronyms

4. Words and phrases (especially foreign)

In the left column, write down how you think the word(s) is spelled (that is,

a phonetic spelling). It also is helpful to write a keyword or two next to the

unclear word to remind yourself of the context in which the word was used.

(P

rint so others will be able to read your notes when reviewing the transcript

of the interview.) If you cannot make out a phonetic spelling of something

you hear, jot down the few words that the interviewee said before saying the

unclear word, or jot down what you thought was the gist of what the inter-

viewee said. Later, you can ask the interviewee for a clariﬁcation. For example,

“What was the Polish phrase you said right after you talked about your father

coming home from work?”

Y

ou may be able to identify a wor

d as a geographic place and then

verify the spelling by using the Geographic Authority List or by referring to

documents in the inter

vie

wee’s ﬁle. In such a scenario, under “Veriﬁed by

inter

vie

w

ee,” write what y

ou believ

e is the corr

ect spelling. Later, after the

interview, show the spellings to the interviewee to double-check that they are

spelled corr

ectly

.

A

t the end of each hour of the inter

vie

w

, it is necessar

y for the camera

technician(s) to stop the interview and put in a new videotape because each

videotape is only one hour in length. M

ake a notation when the second hour

of tape begins, when the thir

d hour of tape begins, and so on.

Y

ou should be

able to see time codes on the TV screen as you view the interview. The ﬁrst

two digits r

epresent the hour (01:15:45 is in the ﬁrst hour of tape).

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

87

A

PPENDIX 6 / GUIDELINES FOR NOTE TAKING

(Occasionally, during the breaks from one hour of taping to the next, the

interviewer may ask for your help with other matters.)

After the Interview

In the right column, write the spellings of difﬁcult or unclear words, as

veriﬁed by the interviewee. Be sure to include accent or other diacritical marks

as necessary. There will be occasions when the interviewee will not be able to

remember exactly what he or she said. In these instances, simply write “could

not verify” in the right-hand column. If, for some reason, there is insufﬁcient

time to verify spellings with the interviewee on the day of the interview,

arrange to contact the interviewee within the next day or two. It is preferable

to verify spellings with the interviewee immediately after the interview,

because, as time passes, the interviewee may forget speciﬁc words or phrases

used during the interview.

See the attached example of notes that were taken at an interview for

elaboration on the above guidelines.

88 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 6 / GUIDELINES FOR NOTE TAKING

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

89

A

PPENDIX 6 / GUIDELINES FOR NOTE TAKING

Page 1

Notes taken at interview with: Renata Laqueur

Notes taken by: Sara Eigenberg

Date: 7/16/96

TAPE 1

Sounds like: Verifed by interviewee:

Grieg/Silesea (where born) Brieg/Silesia

Heﬂapisium (near Lutheran church) Hervormd Lyceum

Bosch (nicknames) Boches

Muffa Moffen

Arganome – Harshaminf (company) Organon Hoffman La Roche

Lilo (sister) Lilo

Seramount (mountains) Zermatt

Westerbork Westerbork

Hamburg Hamburg

NSB NSB = Nationaal Socialistische

Beweging

Fodeman (old clothes) Voddeman = old clothes

Hague Hague

Bizav

atus (until further notice) Bis auf Weiteres = until further

notice (German)

Stampal (stamp) Stempel

TAPE 2

Ga-ga (R

enat

a’s nickname)

Gacka

Rasia (roundup) Razzia

personaferma (fake papers) Persoonsbewijs = fake papers (Dutch)

Mau

thausen

Mau

thausen

Prof

essor Edel

Prof

essor Leon Edel (NYU)

Fught Vught

Burkalestach (civil authority) Burgerlyjkestand

Birk

enau

Birk

enau

rampa (train ramp)

R

ampe

nixon (nothing) Niksen = to do nothing (Dutch)

The following is an example of notes taken at an interview.

page 90 blank

A

PPENDIX 7

Style Guidelines for Transcripts

The guidelines below are sent to transcribers before they begin work on an

interview. These guidelines can be adapted for use by other individuals and

organizations producing oral history interviews.

Style Guidelines

for Transcripts of Oral History Interviews

Overview of Transcribing

To expedite the production and authentication of transcripts for eventual use

in the Museum’s Archives, the Oral History Branch has developed guidelines

to encourage consistency among transcribed testimonies.

Save the electronic v

ersion of the transcript onto a 3.5 inch, IBM-

compatible diskette. If possible, use the latest version of Microsoft Word.

If necessary, use Wor

dPerfect. If you do not have either software application,

sav

e the document as an ASCII text ﬁle. Send the diskette and a printout of

the transcript to the Museum.

For

matting the Document

All transcripts should be double spaced.

The heading on the ﬁrst page of the transcript should be center

ed in

bold

type, as follows:

Interview with [name of interviewee]

[month, date, year]

The headings on subsequent pages of the transcript should be in bold with

the name of the interviewee and date aligned to the left margin and the page

number aligned to the right margin as follows:

[name of inter

view

ee]

[page number]

[date of interview]

I

dentify the ﬁrst question and the ﬁrst answ

er as “Q

uestion:” and “Answer:”.

Subsequently, identify questions and answers simply as “Q:” and “A:”.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

91

A

PPENDIX 7 / STYLE GUIDELINES FOR TRANSCRIPTS

Example:

Question: Good morning.

Answer: Good morning.

Q: Dr. Freud, please tell me about your mother.

A: Vell, lemme tell you….

Any other identiﬁcations, such as “Interviewer” or “Mrs. X” are unnecessary

unless there is a second interviewee, in which case the ﬁrst answer, instead of

being identiﬁed by the word “Answer:”, should be identiﬁed by the intervie-

wee’s full name. Each subsequent answer should be identiﬁed only by that

person’s initials. Similarly, the ﬁrst response by the other interviewee should

be identiﬁed by that interviewee’s full name, and each subsequent response

should be identiﬁed by that interviewee’s initials.

Insert only one space between sentences.

Do not use indentations or separate any continuous passages of testimony

into different paragraphs, even if there is a signiﬁcant pause. This often cre-

ates a mistaken impression that the testimony given is highly structured or

even rehearsed. The only breaks in the text should occur when there is a

change of speaker. All other text should be treated as one paragraph.

Do not tab-indent after the identiﬁer prompt (Q: or A:). Use a single space.

When changing a tape, inser

t the follo

wing on the left side of the page in

bold type:

E

nd of

Tape [number of tape]

Then proceed to a new page and center the following before proceeding to

transcribe the next tape:

T

ape [number of tape]

The end of an inter

view should be noted in

bold type:

Conclusion of inter

view

.

92 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 7 / STYLE GUIDELINES FOR TRANSCRIPTS

Contents of Interview

• Include in the transcript:

Exactly what the interviewee said, including grammatical mistakes and

false starts.

• Do not include in the transcript:

“uhs” or “ums”

• For words that are somewhat decipherable:

Spell words phonetically as best you can. Indicate that it is a phonetic

spelling by typing “(ph)” after the word.

• For words that are indecipherable:

Type a blank line to indicate where those words are spoken.

Example: A: I was born on A

ugust 13th, 1925, in

, Poland.

• When an interviewee recounts a quote of what was said:

Place the appropriate open and closed quotation marks.

Example: …and then I said to him, “What time is it?”

• Punctuation:

Use what appears to be the appropriate punctuation for each sentence in

accordance with how the interviewee speaks.

• When there is a pause in mid-sentence:

U

se ellipses (…).

• When a statement is cut off, a thought quickly changes, or sentence

str

uctur

e abruptly shifts:

U

se two dashes (--).

Example: Will he--can he--open a door?

•

N

umbers:

Spell out one through nine, and use numerals for 10 and above. Like-

wise, spell out ﬁrst thr

ough ninth, and use numerals for 10th and above.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

93

A

PPENDIX 7 / STYLE GUIDELINES FOR TRANSCRIPTS

• Abbreviations:

In general, spell out words in full. Abbreviations, however, should be

used for these common titles: Mr., Mrs., Dr. But spell out names of cur-

rency (dollars, cents, pounds), percent, and number (as in “number 14,”

not “#14”). Do not use ampersands (&). Spell out the word “and.”

• Interviewee’s motions or gestures:

Only include when a motion or gesture is in place of spoken words or

affects the content of the interview. Use brackets.

Example: A: [Coughs]--Excuse me.

94 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 7 / STYLE GUIDELINES FOR TRANSCRIPTS

A

PPENDIX 8

Guidelines for Copy Checking Transcripts

The guidelines below are used by copy checkers (often volunteers) to review a

transcript after it is returned from the transcriber. These guidelines can be adapted

for use by other individuals and organizations producing oral history interviews.

Copy Checking Transcripts of Oral History Interviews

Recorded on Video

(Similar guidelines are available for oral history interviews recorded on audio.)

Overview of Copy Checking

After an interview has been conducted, a copy of the tapes is sent to a

transcriber. Because transcribers ar

e not necessarily specialists in Holocaust

studies, nor in the v

ariety of languages that an interviewee may use in an

interview, it is necessary to have someone review the transcript closely to

thoroughly “copy check

” it.

The purpose of copy checking is to ensur

e that the written transcript

represents exactly what was said in the interview. Copy checkers compare

what was recorded on the video with what was written in the transcript. O

ften

there ar

e discrepancies between the two.

When copy checking is complete, a research assistant may “authenti-

cate” the transcript by verifying the spelling of names and possibly add foot-

notes when necessar

y. After a transcript has been copy checked and

authenticated, it is ready to be accessioned into the Museum’s Archives.

The following are some examples of discrepancies that have occurred

in transcripts. These examples illustrate how a transcriber can unintentionally

alter the interviewee’s statements and thus the ability of a researcher to com-

pr

ehend the larger context of the inter

vie

w:

T

r

anscriber wr

ote:

Copy checker’s correction:

bums, not bums bombs, not bombs

hit somebody in the pots hid some money in the pots

thr

ough a z

oom in y

our life to resume a new life

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

95

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

Transcriber wrote: Copy checker’s correction:

assessed SS

the clothes is the SS was the closest

pain in the neck aim at the neck

To Get Started

Obtain the transcript of the interview to be copy checked.

Obtain headphones and the videotapes of the interview.

Arrange to use a video monitor/VCR, computer, or other device.

Use a pencil with eraser for the changes you will make to the transcript.

Time Codes

It is important to insert time codes into the transcript so anyone who subse-

quently reviews it can easily ﬁnd speciﬁc portions of the video interview. Not

only do time codes make it easier for a research assistant to authenticate the

transcript, they also are a useful interview-ﬁnding aid once the transcript

is placed in the Archives and made available for scholars, researchers, and

the public.

You will need to view the videotape or other format to ﬁnd the time

codes that appear on the screen. Put a time code in the text of the transcript

at least every three minutes. It is best to insert a time code after the comple-

tion of an interviewee’s thought. When possible, insert one after an answer

and before the next question. If it is necessary to insert one within the inter-

viewee’s response to a question, do so when the interviewee has completed a

sentence or changed fr

om one thought to the next.

When vie

wing the videotape or other format, y

ou will see the time

code changing as the machine plays. (It either will be on the top half of the

scr

een or at the bottom.) An example of a time code is “01:01:09:26.”

S

tar

ting with the ﬁrst number in the series, the time code displays the hour

,

then the minutes, then seconds, then frame number. Write down all but the

frame number on the transcript: 01:01:09.

P

ut the ﬁrst time code at the beginning of the inter

vie

w

, befor

e anyone

has spoken.

See attached transcript as an example. In the above example,

01:01:09 is the ﬁrst time code; the second time code (01:04:17) came about

thr

ee minutes later after the inter

vie

w

ee had completed a thought. D

o not

worry about inserting the time code at the exact three-minute mark; a few

96 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

seconds more or less is ﬁne. Do not use a watch to determine when three

minutes have elapsed; rather watch the time code on the screen as it changes.

Press the pause button to capture the time code for that place in the interview.

You may ﬁnd it helpful to write down the numbers (in terms of min-

utes) that you will be looking for on the screen. Then you can check off each

number when you insert the time code in the transcript. For example, write

“3, 6, 9, 12, 15” and so on to remind yourself of the three-minute intervals.

Place a ﬁnal time code at the end of the interview.

Copy Checking

With the transcript in hand, start viewing the interview to begin the

copy checking process. It is best to assume that there will be many discrepancies

between what is written and what is spoken. To copy check properly, it is

crucial to listen carefully and attentively to the entire interview. Be sure to

take breaks, as listening with such concentration can be exhausting and nearly

nonstop listening over a few hours can wear down one’s ability to decipher

words that are unclear.

Often in trying to determine if the spoken words have been accurately

written in the transcript, it may be necessary to listen again to what the inter-

viewee said. If speech is rapid or mumbled, you may need to listen again (and

maybe again and again) to decipher the words.

When you can decipher the interviewee’s speech, write down exactly

what was said, including grammatical errors. If the transcriber corrected

grammatical mistakes, put the mistakes back in the transcript. Do not include

“

uhs

” and “

ums

” in the transcript. In general, include any word that was spoken

and can be deciphered, even false starts and word repetitions (for example, “I,

I, I w

ent to--actually

, I saw him again later that day.”). If the interviewee said

“

pots

of pans

” and y

ou believ

e the person intended to say “

pots

and pans,”

write in the former, adhering to the practice of writing what was spoken. In

such a scenario, it is helpful to write in the margin what y

ou believ

e the inter-

vie

w

ee intended to say

.

If you are unsure of the spelling of a foreign word or name (such as a

for

eign city, ghetto, camp, or phrase), spell it phonetically, as it sounds. When

y

ou spell a wor

d phonetically

, write “(ph)” after the wor

d.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

97

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

Stylistic Standards

When an interviewee recounts a quote, insert the appropriate open and

closed quotation marks. (Recently, we included this preference in our guide-

lines to transcribers; however, for earlier transcripts, it will be necessary to

insert them.)

Look for confusing punctuation. For example, if it is clear from listening

to the videotape that a comma should be inserted where there is none, insert

one. The transcriber should have made most of these judgment calls, but be

aware of the occasional need to correct or complete punctuation.

When there is a pause in mid-sentence, use ellipses (…).

If a statement is cut off, a thought quickly changes, or sentence struc-

ture abruptly shifts, use two dashes (--). For example, “Will he--can he--open

a door?”

Regarding numbers, spell out one through nine, and use numerals

for 10 and above. Likewise, spell out ﬁrst through ninth, and use numerals for

10th and above.

Regarding abbreviations, the general rule is to spell out words in full.

Some abbreviations should be used: Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. But spell out the

names of currency (dollars, cents, pounds), percent, and number (as in “number

14” not “#14”). Do not use ampersands (&); always spell out “and.”

Usually, we do not include the motions or physical gestures of an inter-

viewee in the transcript. However, it is necessary to do so when the motion

was used in place of spoken words. For example, an interviewee may answer

a question by nodding to indicate a “yes” answer without actually saying

anything. I

n this instance, write in brackets “[N

ods head y

es.].” I

f the inter-

viewee’s motion or action affects the content of the interview, note that

motion in brackets. F

or example, if the inter

viewee coughed and said, “Excuse

me,” the transcript should r

ead “[Coughs]--E

x

cuse me.”

S

ee attached tr

an

-

script as an example.

However, if the interviewee coughed, but continued

speaking without making a r

efer

ence to the cough, there is no need to note

the cough in the transcript.

If there are technical difﬁculties with the camera or sound equipment,

the tape may include a conv

ersation between the interviewer and techni-

cian(s). I

f this happens, make an indication in the transcript in brackets to

represent editorializing, for example “[Technical conversation].”

98 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

Challenges

If you cannot determine what the interviewee is saying, place a “?” in

the transcript where the uncertainty lies. Remember that this is a last resort—

a phonetic spelling is always preferred. Also, write the time code for that

portion in the interview (regardless of whether or not three minutes have

elapsed) so that a research assistant can return to that section and try to deter-

mine what was said.

Check to see if there is information in the interviewee’s original ﬁle that

may be especially useful in the copy checking process. There may be instances

when a volunteer or staff member attended the interview and veriﬁed the

spelling of personal or geographic names dir

ectly with the interviewee. If so,

keep the list of veriﬁed spellings nearby as you do the copy checking.

Writing D

own Corrections

• Write corrections as clearly as possible so the research assistant who

reviews the transcript can beneﬁt from all of y

our work.

See attached

transcript for examples.

• Print (rather than use cursive writing) all corrections you make to the

transcript. Distinguish which letters are lower and upper case.

• Write the corrected text abo

ve the incorrect text, and cross out the text

that your correction replaces.

harsh

E

xample: …but life was v

ery hard

• If something was left out of the transcript, indicate where to insert the letter(s)

or word(s) and then print the inserted material clearly above the sentence.

r

egular

E

xample: …to pr

epar

e it for ^ wood

• If there is not enough room to write the revisions/additions above the

sentence, draw an arr

o

w to the margin and print the ne

w wor

ding there.

• If the transcriber left a blank line ( ) with no words, and

y

ou hav

e determined what text belongs ther

e, write the wor

d(s) on that line.

• When you spell word(s) phonetically and are unsure of the correct

spelling, write “(ph)” after the wor

d(s).

E

xample: M

ar

timorish (ph)

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

99

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

Checklist for Copy Checking Transcripts

• Time Codes

1. There should be a time code at least every three minutes throughout

the interview. It is appropriate to include more if the interviewee’s

thoughts change more frequently.

2. Put the ﬁrst time code at the start of the interview and a ﬁnal time

code at the end.

• Copy Checking

1. You will need to make changes to the transcript:

a. Where the transcriber left a blank line.

b. Where there is a discrepancy between what the transcriber wrote

and what was said.

c. Where there are words that you hear on the tape that the

transcriber left out of the transcript.

2. Include in the transcript:

Exactly what the interviewee said, including grammatical errors, false

starts, and word repetitions.

3. Do not include in the transcript:

“uhs” or “ums”

4. If you are unsure of the spelling:

Place a “(ph)” after the phonetic spelling.

• Stylistic Standards

1.

I

nter

vie

wee recounts a quote: Insert appropriate open and closed quo-

tation marks.

2.

P

unctuation is very confusing: Amend punctuation to clarify.

3.

M

id-sentence pauses: I

nser

t ellipses (…).

4. Statement is cut off: Insert dashes (--).

5.

N

umbers: Spell out one through nine; use numerals for 10 and above.

6.

A

bbr

eviations: R

evie

w the speciﬁcs in the guidelines.

7. Interviewee’s motion or gesture: Include when the motion or gesture

is in place of spoken wor

ds or affects the content of the interview.

• Challenges

Cannot determine what inter

viewee says (including incomplete words):

P

lace a “?” and write the time code in the transcript.

100 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

• Three common scenarios

1. You know the correct spelling and write the word as such.

2. You are unsure of the correct spelling, spell it as it sounds, and write

“(ph)” after the word to indicate that it is spelled phonetically.

3. You cannot make out a phonetic spelling and write a “?” and the

time code so that someone else will be able to return to that point

in the tape easily.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

101

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

102 ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

The following are the first four pages from a copy checked transcript.The following are the first four pages from a copy checked transcript.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

103

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

104 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

105

A

PPENDIX 8 / GUIDELINES FOR COPY CHECKING TRANSCRIPTS

page 106 blank

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

107

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

A

PPENDIX 9

Guidelines for Authenticating Transcripts

The guidelines below are used by the research assistants to review a transcript

after it has been copy checked and to ﬁnalize it for accession into the Museum’s

Archives. These guidelines can be adapted for use by other individuals and orga-

nizations producing oral history interviews.

Authenticating Transcripts of Oral History Interviews

Overview of Authentication

After a transcript of an interview has been produced, a copy checker reviews

it to compare what the interviewee said on audio or videotape with what the

transcriber wrote in the transcript. If the copy checker does not know how to

spell a word or geographic place, he or she will spell it phonetically and place

a “(ph)” after the word.

After the transcript has been copy checked, it is ready to be “authenti

-

cated.”

The main objective of the authentication process is to verify all names

and dates, where possible, with an emphasis on verifying geographic place

names. It may be unrealistic to track do

wn the spelling of each person men-

tioned by the inter

viewee, however, when possible, verify those spellings as

well. In verifying dates, examine the general chronology of events mentioned

by the interviewee and verify speciﬁc dates when feasible.

In carrying out the authentication process, it may become evident that

footnotes are warranted. We recommend inserting footnotes

only when it is

absolutely necessary. Although the Museum originally used footnotes in the

examples below, it no longer uses foonotes.

• Translate non-English words or phrases (that is, only when the inter-

viewee did not translate them in the interview)

• Spell out an acronym

• Clarify an unclear statement

• Correct obvious slips of the tongue, such as a misspoken date, word,

or phrase

•

P

r

ovide the full name and a brief description of a well-known person or

notable ﬁgure if it cannot be assumed that most readers would know

108 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

• Provide information on the larger historical context when it is essential

to comprehending the interviewee’s account

To Get Started

Obtain a transcript that has been copy checked and awaits authentication.

Obtain the interviewee’s original ﬁle. Review the materials in the ﬁle to ﬁnd

those pertinent to the authentication of names, places, and dates in the tran-

script. Such materials may include a questionnaire, a preliminary interview

summary, and notes that were taken at the taped interview. Keep in mind that

spellings in the preliminary interview summary may not have been veriﬁed.

Check to see if a draft summary was written for the taped interview.

See guide-

lines on Writing Summaries.

If so, keep a copy of the summary on hand. As you

authenticate the transcript, it may become evident that the summary is incom-

plete or inaccurate, and that you will need to r

evise it. If a summary was not

written, you will need to write one after completing the authentication process.

Obtain headphones and the video or audiotape(s) or other formats of the

interview.

Arrange to use a video monitor/VCR, or other format.

Use a pencil with eraser for the changes you will make to the transcript.

Set Up for Authentication

Scan the pages of the transcript to take note of the changes alr

eady made by

the copy checker. It is useful to review the guidelines on

Copy Checking

T

r

anscripts

to get a sense of what the copy checker was asked to do, and the

kinds of notations he or she most likely made. If it is difﬁcult to interpret the

copy checker

’

s notations, you may need to listen to that portion of the inter-

vie

w y

ourself when doing authentication. I

nitially

, simply r

evie

w the types of

notations that can be interpreted easily. As a reminder for later, you may want

to write the wor

d “Listen

” in the margin next to unclear notations or words

and phrases that the copy checker could not decipher

.

Either simultaneous to the above activity or after a quick glance at the

copy checker

’s notations, review the transcript more closely to get an under-

standing of the general ﬂo

w of the inter

vie

w

. D

epending on your familiarity

with the subject matter, you may want to actually read (rather than just skim)

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

109

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

some of the transcript at the outset, especially those portions that include geo-

graphic places and dates that need authentication. The goal is to begin the

authentication process with a basic level of familiarity with the interview. The

best sources for achieving this level are the summary (if written), the intervie-

wee’s ﬁle, and the transcript of the recorded interview.

Familiarize yourself with the preferred references (books and other

published works) that you will use to authenticate most of the geographic

places and dates. See the following section for a listing of them.

Preferred References

Use the following sources to verify the existence and spelling of geographic

places. When possible, start your search by checking the ﬁrst two sources list-

ed below. The subsequent sources are listed in alphabetical order by title.

Library of Congress subject heading books

The Museum’s Archives controlled vocabulary list

Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer

Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem

(also known as Arolsen List)

Encyclopaedia Judaica

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

The Ghetto A

nthology

Historical Atlas of the Holocaust

National Geographic Atlas of the World

(If you cannot ﬁnd a place in the Atlas,

look in a detailed travel/road map of the country.)

Where Once We Walked

Use the following sources (listed alphabetically by title) to verify chronology,

dates, topical terms, and foreign words. For foreign words, use a dictionary for

that particular language. Otherwise, consult one of the resident experts at the

Museum who is willing to help when you can’t ﬁnd the information you need

in published sources.

Raul Hilberg’s

Destruction of the European Jews

Encyclopaedia Judaica

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

Encyclopedia of the Third Reich

Edelheits’ Handbook and Dictionary on the Holocaust (good for terms and

for

eign wor

ds, especially German)

110 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

Time Codes

Check to see if there are time codes already written onto the transcript at least

every three minutes. (Older transcripts may not have these time codes.) If

time codes are not there, you will need to insert them as you authenticate the

transcript.

See guidelines on Copy Checking Transcripts for detailed instructions

on how to insert time codes.

Authenticating

Now you are ready to authenticate the transcript. Working through it, identify

the places, names, dates, terms, and foreign words that need veriﬁcation. If

there is a question as to whether or not something needs to be veriﬁed, consult

your supervisor on a case-by-case basis. You may want to underline or other-

wise clearly mark those items in the transcript that need authentication. Using

the sources listed above and others when necessary, verify the existence,

chronology

, spelling, location, etc., of those names, places, dates, and words

that need to be authenticated. As you begin the process, take note of the inter-

view research list (in the interviewee’s ﬁle) that was prepared for the interview.

Often there will be sources listed in the ﬁle that will prove useful during the

authentication process. (Note that for older interviews, a research list may not

have been prepared.)

There will be instances when it is nearly impossible to verify something.

Therefore, the realistic goal of the authentication process is to do the best job

possible by using the Museum’s resources to verify places, names, dates, or

wor

ds in the transcript.

The follo

wing disclaimer is included in the intr

oduc-

tion of each authenticated transcript in the Archives:

The reader should bear in mind that she or he is reading a verbatim tran-

script of spoken, r

ather than written pr

ose. Insofar as possible, this transcript

tries to r

epr

esent the spoken wor

d.

Thus, it should be r

ead as a personal

memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account.

When appr

opriate and possible, include diacritical mar

ks (á, é, ö, ü, etc.).

Computer software technology presently limits our use of diacritics, but be

sur

e to include them in the transcript when possible. Note that not all of the

abo

v

e pr

eferr

ed r

eferences provide diacritical marks for geographic places.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

111

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

(The Library of Congress subject heading books, National Geographic Atlas of

the World,

and Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer do include them.)

Footnotes should be used only when they are absolutely necessary. Attach a

footnote to a word, phrase, or term only on the ﬁrst reference in the tran-

script. When a footnote is the English translation of a non-English word or

phrase, it is useful to indicate the language from which the word is translated.

Examples of translation footnotes:

Reads in the transcript: Footnote:

Schmelz

11

melted material (German)

Rohstoff

22

raw material (German)

Pass’ mal auf

3

3

colloquial translation =“Hold on” (German)

Katyúsha

4

4

lorry-mounted multiple rocket

launcher (Russian)

Because a staff member or an outside researcher may want to follow up on

footnote information, be sure to include the source for that footnote if you

found the information in an article, book, publication, or even an unpub-

lished work. The source is especially essential when a footnote is used to clar-

ify or elaborate on the historical context or signiﬁcance of something or

someone. These types of footnotes should be used even more sparingly than

translation footnotes.

I

t is not intended that y

ou do extensiv

e backgr

ound research on all topics

raised in the transcript, but rather to clarify points when necessary to under-

stand the inter

vie

wee’s account. In citing a source, follow the

Chicago M

anual

of S

tyle.

S

ome of the most common styles ar

e sho

wn belo

w

. F

or those not listed

here, refer to the

Manual for guidance.

•

S

ubstantiv

e N

otes:

The footnotes we use in the transcripts are called “substantive” or “dis-

cursiv

e” notes. These are discussed in the “Notes and Bibliographies”

chapter in the

Chicago M

anual of S

tyle.

B

elo

w is an example of a typical

substantive note with a citation of a standard book with a single author.

N

ote that the page number is given at the end of the citation.

112 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

Example:

Between 1939 and 1940, Le Vernet was used as a detention

camp for political prisoners. Susan Zuccotti,

The Holocaust, the

French, and the Jews

(New York: Harper Collins, 1993), 35.

• Citing a Work with Two or More Authors:

The

Manual states, “When a work has two [or more] authors, their

names are listed in the order in which they appear on the title page.”

Example:

Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Amdur Sack,

Where Once We

Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the

Holocaust

(Teaneck, NJ: Avotaynu, 1991).

• Citing a Work with an Editor, Translator, or Compiler:

The

Manual states, “The name of the editor, translator, or compiler

takes the place of the author when no author appears on the title

page…the abbreviation ed./eds., comp./comps., or trans. follows the

name and is preceded by a comma.”

Example:

Israel Gutman, ed.,

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (New York:

Macmillan Publishing, 1990).

• Citing a Work with Corporate Authors:

The

Manual states, “If a publication issued by an organization carries no

personal author’s name on the title page, the organization is listed as the

author

, even if its name is repeated in the title or in the series title or as

the publisher…”

Example:

Encyclopaedia Judaica Research Foundation,

Encyclopaedia

J

udaica

(

Jerusalem: Encyclopaedia Judaica, corrected ed.).

• Citing an Encyclopedia:

When citing information fr

om encyclopedias, conclude the citation

with the title of the encyclopedia entry, preceded by s.v., in place of the

page number.

Example:

Amy Hackett, ed.,

The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich (New

York: Macmillan Publishing, 1991), s.v. “genocide.”

• Citing an Article from a Journal:

When citing an article from a journal, the author’s name is followed by

the title of the article in quotations, then the title of the journal in italics.

The volume and series numbers are placed between the journal title and

the date of publication.

Example:

Józef Adelson, “The Expulsion of Jews with Polish Citizenship

from Bavaria in 1923,”

Polin: A Journal of Polish-Jewish Studies

5 (1990).

• Citing an Essay within a Collection:

The style for citing an essay within a collection is similar to that for journal

citations with the following exceptions: The collection title is preceded

by the preposition “in” and followed by the editor’s name, and the com-

plete publication information is given in parentheses.

Example:

Konstanty Gebert, “Jewish Identities in Poland: New, Old and

Imaginary,” in

Jewish Identities in the New Europe, ed. Jonathan

Weber (London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1994).

•

Citing F

or

eign Language

Titles:

The

Manual states, “Titles of works in languages other that English are

tr

eated

the same as English titles except that capitalization follows the

conv

entions of the language of the wor

k….”

Example:

M

ar

tin Weinmann, ed.,

D

as nationalsozialistische Lagersystem

(F

rankfur

t am M

ain: Z

w

eitausendeins, 1990), 135.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

113

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

• Previously Cited Sources:

Because portions of the transcripts may be used or presented outside of the

context of the full document, we do not use standard abbreviation

devices (

ibid., idem, op. cit., etc.) when referring to previously cited

sources. Instead, abbreviate successive entries by omitting the author and

publication information.

Examples:

1

German forces occupied Paris, June 14, 1940. The Chrono-

logical Atlas of World War Two,

35.

2

Statut des Juifs issued October 1940. Encyclopedia of the Holo-

caust,

s.v. “statut des Juifs.”

Another example of the need for a footnote is if the interviewee said, “pots of

pans” but, from the context, you are fairly certain that the person intended to

say “pots

and pans.” Keep the actual spoken words in the text of the interview,

then use a footnote to indicate what y

ou believe the interviewee intended to say.

Reads in the transcript:

pots of pans

1

Footnote:

1

It appears that the interviewee intended to say “pots and pans.”

See attached sample pages from an authenticated transcript for additional examples

of footnotes. A

lthough the M

useum no longer uses footnotes, w

e hav

e kept this sec-

tion in the text for those seeking guidance.

Challenges

Expect to ﬁnd a number of challenging names and words in any given tran-

script. I

deally

, as you proceed with the authentication process, you will devel-

op strategies for appr

oaching such challenges. S

ometimes, y

ou can r

ely on

resources that you have used in the past; other times, it may be necessary to

ﬁnd ne

w resources. The best place to start is the Museum’s Library. You also

may learn of individuals at the M

useum who can pr

o

vide information and

leads. It is important to achieve some sort of balance when it comes to search-

ing for obscur

e words, phrases, or places, since there will be occasions when

it is unr

ealistic to expect to ﬁnd v

eriﬁcation.

114 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

With challenging words, etc., it is especially helpful to listen again to

the portion of the tape where the words were spoken. If it is very difﬁcult to

understand after listening several times, ask someone else to listen. Often a

second set of ears simply hears the word or phrase differently and can offer

a different perspective. For non-English words or phrases, consider asking

someone at the Museum who is a resident expert with that particular

language. It is best to save your queries, then ask the person to listen to the

segments in one sitting. Remember that there will be occasions when it is not

possible to understand what an interviewee is saying; and in some cases, what

may sound like a word may actually just be some mumbling. In other words,

do not obsess o

ver one word.

If you have questions that you believe the interviewee can answer, con-

sider contacting him or her dir

ectly. It can prove especially fruitful to ask the

intervie

wee for name spellings of family members and other close relations.

We recommend that you wait until you are near the end of the authentication

process before calling because 1) you may ﬁnd the answ

er to one or more of

your questions as you continue the authentication process, 2) you may

discover additional questions to ask the interviewee, 3) it is best to call the

interviewee once rather than several times.

Writing Down Corrections

Print all corrections you make to the transcript, distinguishing which letters

are lower and upper case. Write the corrected text above the incorrect text,

and cross out the text that your correction replaces. Even if you will be putting

the corrections into the computer yourself, it is preferable to print and make

very clear notations. This is useful when you ask others to review segments of the

transcript, and necessary when you cannot complete the authentication on

that transcript, and must leave it for someone else to pick up where you left off.

• If you cannot verify the spelling of a place, name, or term, place a “(ph)”

after it each time it occurs in the transcript.

• If you cannot understand what the interviewee said after using different

strategies and asking for a second person to listen, write either “[Inde-

cipherable]” or “[I

naudible]” in the transcript. Use “[Indecipherable]”

when you think it was a word or phrase, but were not able to compre-

hend the actual word(s). Use “[Inaudible]” when it sounds more like

mumbling than wor

ds.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

115

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

Examples:

…so we hired a Polish [Indecipherable], a horse and carriage…

Would you--I mean, she was so [Inaudible].

• When you add an editorial comment, put it in brackets as shown above.

• If time codes are not already in the transcript, clearly write the hour,

minute, and seconds (01:10:33) at the appropriate places, at least every

three minutes throughout the interview.

Stylistic Standards

For purposes of consistency and clarity, it is important to maintain a standard

for style preferences in each transcript.

See guidelines on Copy Checking

Transcripts for style preferences.

Writing the Summary

If the summary has not been written, use the transcript and the interviewee’s

ﬁle to write one, following the established guidelines.

See guidelines on Writing

Summaries.

If the summary has been written, read it carefully to see how it can be

revised or completed. Many of the summaries that were written in the past are

incomplete. The guidelines on

Writing Summaries have changed over time, and

some summaries were based on unauthenticated transcripts. Therefore, the infor-

mation in the summary may be incomplete or, in some cases, inaccurate. Use your

familiarity with the transcript and the inter

vie

w

ee

’s ﬁle to revise the summary as

necessary to make it conform to the current guidelines on writing summaries.

Checklist for A

uthenticating

T

r

anscripts

• To get started

1.

O

btain copy-checked transcript.

2.

O

btain inter

vie

w

ee

’s original ﬁle and summary (if already written).

3. Obtain tape(s) or other formats and headphones.

4.

Arrange to use a video monitor/VCR, or other devices.

5.

U

se pencil with eraser

.

•

Set up for authentication

1.

R

evie

w copy checker

’

s notations; mark “Listen” in the margins when

necessary.

116 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

2. Review the transcript closely for general ﬂow of interview. Review

other items (original ﬁle, summary) for familiarity.

3. Familiarize yourself with preferred references. Make sure they are

easily accessible.

• Authenticating

1. Check to see if time codes are written onto the transcript. If not,

insert the ﬁrst one at the beginning of the interview and then at least

every three minutes thereafter.

2. Identify names, dates, terms, foreign words that need veriﬁcation.

Clearly mark these items in the transcript by underlining them.

3. Use the resources available and follow up on realistic leads to verify as

many of the items as possible.

4. When appropriate and when possible, use diacritics (á, é, ö, ü, etc.).

5. Clearly mark items that need to be footnoted, and write out the foot-

note text at the bottom of the page.

• Challenges

1. Develop strategies for addressing challenges along the way.

2. Listen again to the challenging portions of the interview. Ask some-

one else to listen as well if the spoken words are still difﬁcult to decipher.

3. Consider calling the interviewee directly with speciﬁc questions.

• W

riting down corrections

1. Print all corrections, distinguishing which letters are lower and upper

case. Cross out the text that your corrections replace.

2. When you have veriﬁed something, place a check mark next to it.

3. If you cannot verify the spelling of a word, write “(ph)” after it.

4. If you cannot understand what the interviewee is saying, write either

“[Indecipherable]” or “[Inaudible]” in the transcript.

• Stylistic Standards

Adhere to the style preferences in the

Copy Checking Transcripts

guidelines.

• Writing the summary

Either revise an existing one or write a new one. Refer to the

Writing

Summaries

guidelines.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

117

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

118 UNITED S

TATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Interview with Irene Fleming

May 16, 1996

RG-50.030*0366

The following are a few sample pages from an authenticated transcript: the title page, preface, and three pages of

testimony (pages 11, 12, 32).

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

119

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

PREFACE

The following oral history testimony is the result of a videotaped interview with Irene

Fleming, conducted by Joan Ringelheim on May 16, 1996, on behalf of the United States Holocaust

M

emorial Museum. The interview took place in Arlington, VA, and is part of the United States

Holocaust Memorial Museum’s collection of oral testimonies.

The interview was transcribed and processed by the Department of Oral History. Rights to

the interview are held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The reader should bear in mind that she or he is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken,

rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus,

it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account.

To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have

been veriﬁed, either by reference resources within the Museum or directly by the interviewee. In

some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in or

der to provide a translation of for

eign

wor

ds or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words

and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically.

120 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

RG-50.030*0366 11

A: It was premonition. We knew if people can be so cruel, anything can happen. There was

no consciousness anymore left in people. Cruelty and brutality. We lived every moment and

we didn’t know what the next moment will bring. Nobody knew.

Q: When, when you went into the closed ghetto, when the ghetto was closed, were you in

that apartment sharing it with this other person or--

A: No, you mean if I lived with him before that? No, no such a thing didn’t happen before

when I was growing up. No, we--after I got married I lived with my parents. After I got

married, he lived with us.

Q:

And, and when the ghetto was closed, did your father get a job and you got a job and

your brother?

A: Everybody had to. Everybody had to work. And as I told you my brother was graduated

high school in, in the ghetto was a group of

, a lot of young people went to school and he

got a very good position in a, this food distribution store. And they called it Kooperative

1

,

and R

umkowski

2

gav

e it all his pupils. As I told you he’s very fond of his children.

Q:

And you knew Rumkowski?

1

cooperativ

e (G

erman).

2

Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski (1877–1944), chairman of the Judenrat in the Lodz ghetto.

Gutman, Israel, editor.

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (New York: MacMillan, 1990), s.v.

“Rumkowski, Chaim Mordechai.”

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

121

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

RG-50.030*0366 12

A: Oh, I knew him since I was a little child because he used to come to us all the time to

our house.

Q: And how do you remember him prior to the ghetto? Do you have strong recollections?

A: Yes, he was a very benevolent man.

02:21:00

He was an--he loved the childr

en. It was a model orphanage. The kids were doing all

kinds of works, you know, crafts and arts. And for every holy day we would get a little

gift that the kids made. My father was supporting him so we knew, we knew, we knew

him and he knew us.

Q: Did you have some relationship with him? Did you talk politics with him?

A: Yes, I did, because I belonged to this Revisionistic/Jabotinsky

3

organization and he was

just the opposite. So, every time he would come to, to us and he would say, “Are you still

Zionists?” I said yes. Even in the ghetto he remembered that.

Q:

Did you actually talk about it or he simply, he simply knew you were a Revisionistic?

3

The Revisionists, a group consisting of maximist political Zionists, was founded by Vladimir

Jabotinsky (1880–1940). Encyclopaedia Judaica Research Foundation,

Encyclopaedia Judaica

(Jerusalem: Encyclopedia Judaica, corrected ed.) s.v. “Jabotinski, Vladimir.”

122 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 9 / GUIDELINES FOR AUTHENTICATING TRANSCRIPTS

R

G-50.030*0366 32

A: We tried, we tried to get people from the same cultures, from the same background. It

was, it was a humiliating time, a humiliating experience. Beautiful people, we had

Professor Caspari

4

that was one of the ﬁrst cancer researcher. He lost his life, too.

03:03:08

Q: Did y

ou have a, a card ﬁle of where people were living?

A: Oh, yes. It was very, very orderly. Everything was just like clockwork, unbelievable how

everything worked the way it’s supposed to. Yeah, we had, we had--everybody was

registered.

Q:

And they couldn’t mo

ve unless--

A: No, no where could they move? They needed space where to live, and space was

precious.

Q: In that kind of a situation where people are living under such tension, yeah, with so little

food and under difﬁcult apar

tment situations, was ther

e a lot of ﬁghting and arguments?

A: Not really, not really, because we all were in the same situation and we all had to do our

best to get along. Life was miserable enough without having any kind of fights, you know,

4

P

r

ofessor

Wilhelm Caspari (1872–1944), renown cancer researcher and bacteriologist.

D

obr

oszycki, Lucjan.

The Chr

onicle of the Lodz G

hetto

(N

e

w Haven: Yale University Press

1984), 435.

A

PPENDIX 10

Guidelines for Writing Summaries

The guidelines below are used by the research assistants and interns to write one-

page summaries of interviews. These guidelines can be adapted for use by other

individuals and organizations producing oral history interviews.

Writing Summaries of Oral History Interviews

Overview of Writing Summaries

The purpose of a summary is to help researchers and others focus on speciﬁc

experiences about which they seek to learn more. Summaries help them ﬁnd

that information without spending a great deal of time reviewing irrelevant

material. Therefor

e, it is important that the information in the summary be

concise and accurate, and pr

ovide an overview of the interviewee’s experi-

ences. Each sentence in the summary should answer a question—who, where,

what, when, or how.

The summar

y should focus on the interviewee’s life, and only include

the fates of family members or friends when they are central to understanding

the progression of the inter

viewee

’s own experiences. Broad experiences

should be included, whereas details, ho

wever interesting, should be omitted.

For example, noting that Mr. X went on a death march from Auschwitz on

January 18, 1945, is important information. The fact that he only had one

shoe is not impor

tant for the summary (unless, for example, he lost his foot

as a result).

Geographic place names and dates are of greatest importance. They

must be exact and as detailed as possible. For example, if a survivor was

interned in Auschwitz, try to specify which camp (Auschwitz I, Auschwitz-

B

ir

kenau, or a subcamp) and the dates interned.

It is best to summarize the interviewee’s experiences chronologically in

three parts: pre-Holocaust, Holocaust, and post-Holocaust. The second part

should be the largest and most detailed section.

The thir

d par

t will usually

end with liberation and/or, where applicable, leaving a displaced persons

camp for the United States, Palestine, etc.

An inter

vie

w

ee’s experiences can usually be put into one of four

categories: survivor, rescuer, liberator, or witness. In some cases, a person’s

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

123

T

HE PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW

124 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

experiences will bridge two categories (for example, someone may be both a

survivor and rescuer). The majority of summaries will be of survivors’ experi-

ences. In some ways, the summaries for each of the categories will follow the

same format. In other ways, they will differ.

Writing a Draft Version of a Summary

Because it may take several weeks before the transcript of an interview is avail-

able, a draft version of the summary should be written as soon as possible so

researchers can know at least the basics of the interview’s content. Later, when

the transcript is written, the draft version, or “summary in progress,” can be

revised and ﬁnalized.

Obtain the interviewee’s ﬁle. Included in the ﬁle should be preliminary

interview information and a brief “Personal Data Form” (ﬁlled out by the

interviewer at the conclusion of the interview). These items, along with any

other pertinent documents in the ﬁle, such as notes taken at the inter

view,

articles about the interviewee, written memoirs, etc., will be instrumental in

writing a draft version of the summary.

When typing the summary into the computer, type “[SUMMARY IN

PROGRESS] Place names not yet veriﬁed” at the top of the page (under the

interviewee’s name and the identiﬁcation code of the interview, known as the

record group number).

See attached sample of a “summary in progress” that pro-

vides only a basic outline of the interview.

Writing the Final Version of a Summary

When writing the ﬁnal v

ersion of the summar

y

, r

efer to the “summary in

progress” and the transcript. If the “summary in progress” has not been writ-

ten, write the ﬁnal v

ersion b

y referring to the transcript, if available. If the

transcript has not been pr

oduced and will not be in the for

eseeable futur

e, y

ou

may have to write the ﬁnal version of the summary by consulting the docu-

ments in the inter

vie

wee’s ﬁle and, when necessary, reviewing portions of the

inter

vie

w itself

.

Ideally, the transcript will have been produced, copy checked, and

authenticated befor

e you attempt to write the ﬁnal version of a summary.

S

ee

guidelines for Cop

y Checking

T

r

anscripts and A

uthenticating Transcripts.

I

f y

ou

are consulting a transcript that has not been authenticated, write “[SUM-

MAR

Y IN PROGRESS] Place names not yet veriﬁed” at the top. While such

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

125

a summary will be considered closer to a ﬁnal version than a draft version, it

will need to be checked for accuracy once the transcript has been authenti-

cated.

See attached sample of a “summary in progress” that provides a detailed

account of the interview, yet whose place names are not yet veriﬁed.

Format for summary according to type of experience

SURVIVORS

Pre-Holocaust

In general, the interviewee’s pre-Holocaust life will be limited to one or two

sentences in the summary, unless it is of particular importance. Do not

include details of the interviewee moving from town to town before the war

began, unless it is an important part of the interview. The ﬁrst sentence

should always include:

1. Interviewee’s name, date and place of birth (city or town followed by

country).

Other possible subjects of the interviewee’s prewar life that may be important

to include:

1. Interviewee’s religion/ethnic background.

2. Occupation, if the interviewee was an adult before the war began.

3. Marriage and children, if any.

4. If in Germany, mention of

Kristallnacht or Nuremberg laws, if signiﬁcant

to the interviewee’s experiences. If in other countries, mention relevant

ev

ents related to the Nazi rise to power.

H

olocaust

The beginning of the interviewee’s wartime persecution should be one or

perhaps two sentences.

Wher

e was the interviewee at the time when

signiﬁcant persecution began?

What was the date?

This will be differ

ent for

different geographic areas and experiences.

I

t is likely that the inter

vie

w

ee was transpor

ted to one or more of the following:

1.

A ghetto. Include location (city/country), date of entry and exit, and work

gr

oup, if possible.

2.

A tr

ansit camp.

I

nclude name, location (city/countr

y), date of entr

y

and exit.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

126 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Another possibility is that the interviewee went into:

1.

Hiding. If the interviewee went into hiding, include the name of the city

and the country in which he or she hid, conditions of hiding and speciﬁc

locations (for example, a barn or attic), as well as dates that hiding began

and ended. Mention the person who hid the interviewee, if applicable.

Note that living under a false identity can be considered hiding.

Next, outline the continuation of wartime experiences. Possible experiences:

1.

Internment. Name any labor camps, prisons, or concentration camps in

which the interviewee was interned. Include names, locations, work

group(s), and dates.

2.

Escape. Include location, date, and method of escape.

3.

Resistance efforts. Mention forms of organized resistance with which the

interviewee was involved. Name the resistance group, the location, form of

resistance, and dates inv

olved.

In the next section, outline the interviewee’s experience of liberation/end

of war.

1. If the interviewee was in a camp or prison at the time of liberation, give

the nationality of the liberating army (and the division where applicable),

and the date and location. If the interviewee was not in a camp, explain

the interviewee’s liberation (date, location, and army, if applicable and

available).

P

ost-H

olocaust

1. Displaced persons camps (name, city/country, dates)

2.

E

migration (from where, where to, date)

See sample of a summary written for an interview with a survivor at the end of

these

W

riting Summaries guidelines.

LIBERATORS

S

ummaries for liberators will differ from others in that they will focus on the

brief time period at the end of the war

. I

n some cases they will focus on ev

ents

following actual liberation.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

127

Pre-encounter with camps

For liberators, “pre-Holocaust experiences” usually include most of the years

of the Holocaust (1939–1945), because it was near the end of the war when

most liberators had their ﬁrst encounters with the camps.

The ﬁrst sentence should always include:

1. Interviewee’s name, date and place of birth (city/country).

It is essential to include:

1. In what country’s military the interviewee served.

2. When the interviewee joined the military.

3. Branch, unit, division, and rank.

Other possible subjects of the interviewee’s life that may be important to

include are:

1. Religion/ethnic background.

2. Occupation (if the interviewee was an adult before the war began).

Encounter with camps

In terms of an interviewee’s encounter with the camps or prisons, or with pris-

oners on forced marches, give location (town or nearest town/country), date,

amount of time in the camp, and a brief overview of what was done and seen

while there.

P

ost-H

olocaust

If the information is available, brieﬂy describe when the interviewee returned

to countr

y of origin; occupation.

See sample of a summary written for an interview with a liberator at the end of

these

W

riting Summaries guidelines.

RESCUERS

P

re-Holocaust

1.

I

nter

vie

w

ee’s name, date and place of birth.

2. Religion/ethnic background, if known.

3.

Occupation before the war, if applicable.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

128 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Holocaust

1. Occupation during the war.

2. Dates, locations, and basic nature of rescue operations.

3. Names of afﬁliations of wartime rescue operations, if applicable.

4. Descriptions and names of those rescued, if known.

Post-Holocaust

1. Include a sentence about the post-Holocaust experiences of a rescuer espe-

cially if they relate to the rescue operations in which the interviewee was

engaged during the Holocaust.

See sample of a summary written for an interview with a rescuer at the end of

these Writing Summaries guidelines.

WITNESSES

The term “witness” is a broad category that we use to include bystanders, war

crimes prosecutors, military personnel who were not present during the actu-

al liberation, and others. Therefore, this template is very basic.

Pre-Holocaust

1. Interviewee’s name, date and place of birth.

2. Religion/ethnic background, if known.

3. Occupation before the war, if applicable.

H

olocaust

1. Occupation during the war.

2.

What the inter

viewee witnessed during the Holocaust, including dates and

locations in a brief outline format.

P

ost-H

olocaust

1.

I

f the inter

vie

w

ee was a witness, include a sentence about the post-

Holocaust experiences, especially if they relate to the events witnessed

during the H

olocaust.

2.

I

f the inter

vie

w

ee was a prosecutor, include names of trials.

S

ee sample of a summary written for an interview with a witness at the end of

these

W

riting S

ummaries guidelines.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

129

Stylistic Standards

For consistency and clarity, certain information should be included in every

summary. But some important information may be missing from some inter-

views. For example, some interviewees do not state their date of birth in the

interview. In such cases, it may be necessary to rely on the other documents

in the interviewee’s ﬁle. If it is impossible to ﬁnd this or other basic, impor-

tant information in the transcript or ﬁle, discuss the situation with your

supervisor, who will determine if the situation warrants a phone call to the

interviewee.

In the ﬁnal analysis, if crucial information is still missing, it may be

appropriate to make a note in brackets in the summary regarding that omis-

sion. Such decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis in consultation

with your supervisor.

Consider including the family background of the interviewee, espe-

cially if the intervie

wee is a survivor. For instance, it is usually of interest to

researchers whether the survivor is Jewish, Catholic, Roma/Sinti (Gypsy), or

Jehovah’s Witness. This information should be interwoven in a tasteful way;

it does not have to be stated in the ﬁrst or second sentence, but instead wher-

ever it is most appropriate. In other words, it should exist as part of the larger

information about someone’s childhood and background.

See the attached

examples to note how religion/ethnic background can be interwoven into the

narrative.

If the interview is not in English, note the language of the interview

immediately under the record group number of the interview, in bold type,

ﬂush right, in par

entheses.

E

xample:

(P

olish language inter

view)

B

e sur

e to maintain consistency of spelling, capitalization, and abbr

e

-

viations for terms that commonly are used in the summaries. For example,

“

ghetto

” in “Warsaw ghetto” is

not capitaliz

ed. U

se “ghettos” rather than

“

ghettoes

” for the plural.

R

efer to the “P

r

eferr

ed S

pelling, C

apitalization, and

Abbreviations” section of these guidelines for more examples.

If you have any

questions about these or other instances not co

vered in these guidelines, ask

y

our super

visor

.

For geographic places, use the following sources to verify the existence

and spelling of each.

When beginning your search, ﬁrst check the top two

sour

ces listed, if possible.

The subsequent sour

ces ar

e listed in alphabetical

order by title.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

130 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Library of Congress subject heading books

The Museum’s Archives controlled vocabulary list

Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer

Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem

(also known as Arolsen List)

Encyclopaedia Judaica

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

The Ghetto Anthology

Historical Atlas of the Holocaust

National Geographic Atlas of the World

(If a geographic place is not in the Atlas,

try a detailed travel/road map of the speciﬁc country where the place

is located.)

Where Once We Walked

On the ﬁrst occasion that you refer to a town or city in the summary,

be sure to include the country immediately following the reference, for exam-

ple, “B

erlin, Germany.” On subsequent references in the summary, write only

“Berlin.”

There will be times when an interviewee refers to a geographic place

(both city and countr

y) with different names from what is used today. We

honor the interviewee’s reference, but also include the present-day name.

Wherever possible, the present-day name should be consistent with the

Library of Congress’ approved terms. On the ﬁrst occasion that such a place

is mentioned in a summary, write the name used by the interviewee, followed

by the Library of Congress’ preferred name in parentheses. Three common

scenarios where the city name, country name, or both were different from

what they ar

e today:

D

anzig (Gdansk), P

oland

Brno, Moravia (Czech Republic)

Lv

o

v, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine)

Check the Oral History Branch’s index of summaries in the Museum’s

Ar

chives reading room to see if a place had a different name during the

H

olocaust. F

or example, the listing for “Lv

o

v

, Poland” has “

S

ee

Lviv

, U

kraine

”

to the right of the entry. The latter is the Library of Congress’ term. If you

cannot ﬁnd a geographic place in the index, turn to the Librar

y of Congress

subject heading books or the M

useum

’

s Ar

chiv

es controlled vocabulary list for

the Museum’s most commonly used terms.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

131

On subsequent references (for example, with “Danzig (Gdansk),

Poland”), use the name of the town or city preferred by the interviewee. In

this example: “Danzig.”

On the ﬁrst occasion that you refer to a camp in the summary, include

the type of camp and country in which it was located. For example, “Mr. X

was in Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland.” On subsequent refer-

ences, write: “Auschwitz.” Other types of camps may include, but are not lim-

ited to: labor, transit, and displaced persons. A camp may be deﬁned primarily

as a subcamp of another camp. For example, “…in Ebensee, a subcamp of

Mauthausen in Austria.” To determine the type of camp, use

Das national-

sozialistische Lagersystem

(also known as Arolsen List).

When appropriate and when possible, use diacritics (á, é, ö, ü, etc.).

We are presently limited by computer software technology in the diacritics

that we can use, but after determining those diacritics that are supported by

the present technology

, include them in the transcript when appropriate.

Note that not all of the above sources provide the diacritical marks when they

list geographic places. (The Library of Congress subject heading books,

National Geographic Atlas of the World, and Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer do

include them.)

Note that a summary should not be longer than one page (otherwise,

it is no longer truly a summary). If a summary is about a full page in length,

choose one or two appropriate places to start a new paragraph. A full page of

text without any paragraph breaks can be uninviting to read.

Refer to the

attached sample summaries for the preferred text formatting.

Checklist for Writing Summaries

•

W

riting a draft version

1.

I

f ther

e is no transcript av

ailable or if the transcript has not been

authenticated, designate the summary as a “[SUMMARY IN

PR

OGRESS] P

lace names not yet veriﬁed.”

2.

R

evie

w the inter

vie

w

ee’s ﬁle for other documents that may be helpful

in the summary-writing process.

•

W

riting a ﬁnal v

ersion

1. If the transcript is not going to be produced in the foreseeable future,

y

ou will need to write the ﬁnal version of the summary by consulting

the inter

vie

w

ee

’

s ﬁle and, when necessary, portions of the inter-

view itself.

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

132 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

2. If an authenticated transcript is available, you can write the ﬁnal ver-

sion of the summary without writing a [SUMMARY IN

PROGRESS].

3. When a [SUMMARY IN PROGRESS] has been written, use the

information in it along with the transcript to write the ﬁnal version.

• Summary format

There is a different format for each of the following categories of inter-

viewees. In some cases, someone’s experiences will bridge two categories.

SURVIVORS

LIBERATORS

RESCUERS

WITNESSES

• Stylistic Standards

1. Incomplete information from the transcript/interview:

Consult other documents in interviewee’s ﬁle; discuss the situation

with your supervisor if information is still missing.

2. Religion/ethnic background:

Interweave in a tasteful way.

3. Non-English interviews:

Note the language of the interview at the top of the summary.

4. Spelling, capitalization, abbreviations:

S

ee the follo

wing section entitled “Preferred Spelling, Capitalization,

and A

bbr

eviations.

”

5.

Check spellings for ghettos, camps, to

wns:

U

se Librar

y of Congr

ess subject headings, M

useum

’

s Archives

controlled vocabulary list, and other sources.

6.

F

irst r

efer

ence to a city or to

wn:

Write out city and country, as in “Berlin, Germany.” On subsequent

r

eferences, write “Berlin.”

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

133

7. First reference to a city/town that had a different name than is

used presently:

Include interviewee’s reference, followed by Library of Congress’

present-day name in parentheses. Common scenarios:

Danzig (Gdansk), Poland

Brno, Moravia (Czech Republic)

Lvov, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine)

On subsequent references, use name preferred by interviewee.

8. First reference to a camp:

Write out type of camp and country in which it was located,

for example, “Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland.” On

subsequent references, write: “Auschwitz.”

9. To determine the type of camp:

Refer to

Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem (also known as Arolsen List).

Preferred Spelling, Capitalization, and Abbreviations

General Rule:

Never use abbreviations that are not immediately apparent to the reader.

For words not on this short list, check with the Library of Congress subject

heading books or the Museum’s Archives controlled vocabulary list.

Do: Don’t:

antisemitism anti-Semitism, Antisemitism

displaced persons camp

DP camp

displaced persons DPs

G

entile

gentile

ghetto

G

hetto

ghettos ghettoes

U

nited S

tates U.S. or U.S.A. or America

U

nited S

tates Army

U.S. Army

World War II Second World War

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

134 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

On ﬁrst reference in each summary: On subsequent references:

United Nations Relief and UNRRA

Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA)

American Jewish Joint JDC

Distribution Committee (JDC)

[First and last name of inter- [present-day, ﬁrst name only]

viewee, and name at birth

(if different from now)]

Commonly used foreign terms:

Aktion

Kindertransport

Kristallnacht

Schutzpässe

Approved abbreviations:

Mr.

Mrs.

Ms.

Dr.

Spell out the following:

percent (not %)

number

(not #)

and (not &)

S

tyle r

ules for numbers:

Spell out one through nine / use numerals for 10 and above

S

pell out ﬁrst thr

ough ninth / use numerals for 10th and above

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

135

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

Sample of summary in progress that provides only a basic outline of the interview.

HANS HEIMANN

RG-50.030*091

[SUMMARY IN PROGRESS]

Place names not yet veriﬁed

Hans Heimann was born on May 28, 1920, in Vienna, Austria. He emigrated to

Hungary in 1938 and to Italy in 1939. He was placed in an internment camp in

Torotoreto, Italy, during the war, where he remained until liberation by the British in

1943. Hans later worked for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

and emigrated to the United States in 1951.

136 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

GEORGE HAVAS

RG-50.030*378

[SUMMARY IN PROGRESS]

Place names not yet veriﬁed

George Havas (nee György Havas) was born in 1929 in Mukacevo

(Mukachevo), Czechoslovakia. The town was occupied by Hungarians after Germany

took over Sudetenland. George’s father, a doctor, was no longer allowed to practice

medicine. In March of 1944, the Germans took over. On May 15, 1944, George was

transported to Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland. George’s father was separated

from his sons. (After the war, George learned that his father died in the

Sonderkommando

uprising in Auschwitz.) After eight days in Auschwitz, George was sent to Mauthausen, a

concentration camp in Austria. From there he was sent on to Ebensee, a subcamp of

Mauthausen in Austria, where he stayed for one year, until liberation. George worked in

the tunnels at Ebensee where he was able to make contacts and bring back news. George’s

brother died in Ebensee. The few friends he made in the camp also perished before liber-

ation. George was liberated on May 6, 1945. He left on June 7 for Prague, Czechoslovakia

(Czech Republic). In 1947 George came to the United States.

Sample of summary in progress that provides details of the interview, but place names have not yet been veriﬁed.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

137

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

CAROLA STEINHARDT

RG-50.030*368

[SUMMARY IN PROGRESS]

Place names not yet veriﬁed

Carola Steinhardt (nee Stern) was born on March 8, 1925, in Nieder Ohmen,

Germany. Carola remembers that before 1933 non-Jews and Jews interacted together in

her village. Once Hitler rose to power, Carola’s non-Jewish friends ceased speaking to

her. Carola was sent to attend and be a boarder at a Jewish school in Bad Nauheim,

Germany. Carola vividly recalls

Kristallnacht in November 1938. At her school, storm

troopers burst in, cut feather beds, harassed students and others. M

eanwhile, Car

ola’s

father was sent to Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany. Her mother and sister

ﬂed to Bad Nauheim and the three were reunited there. Carola’s father was able to leave

Buchenwald and the family moved to Frankfurt, Germany. Soon her father was taken away

again to a labor camp. Car

ola herself was taken away in early 1941 to do hard labor in

Berlin, Germany. She worked at an airplane factory in Berlin until early 1943 when she

was removed for “resettlement” in the east.

Car

ola arrived in the ﬁrst week of March 1943 at Auschwitz, a concentration

camp in Poland. S

he remembers her clothes being taken away, her hair being cut, and

dogs barking. She was given old clothes that were too small. Carola was allowed to

keep her shoes, but when they br

oke she went barefoot. Sev

en “beauticians

” were

selected from among the female prisoners. Another prisoner volunteered Carola as one

of the seven. The job was to cut off the hair of incoming female prisoners. She was then

sent to clean the clothes taken from prisoners. Carola knew her parents had been taken

to the Lodz ghetto in Poland and asked to look in the transports arriving at Auschwitz

for her family

. In August 1944, she was reunited with her sister in Auschwitz, but soon

they w

er

e separated again. From her sister, Carola learned her parents were dead.

In January of 1945, Carola was taken on a march to Ravensbrück, a

concentration camp in G

ermany

. She stayed in Ravensbrück for four weeks, then she

was sent on a march to Malchow, a subcamp of Ravensbrück in Germany. On the way,

Carola had to go to the bathroom and risked leaving the line to run into a barn and

relieve herself. As she was entering the barn, her sister emerged from it. She too had

r

un in ther

e to use it as a bathr

oom. F

r

om then on, the two stay

ed together

. At

M

alcho

w

, a subcamp of Ravensbrück in Germany, Carola worked in the kitchen. In

May of 1945, Malchow was liberated by Americans. Carola and her sister made their

way ﬁrst to Czechoslovakia and then to Austria. They were interned in Kammer

Schorﬂing, a displaced persons camp in Austria, until July 1946 when they took an

army transport to the United States.

Sample of summary written for an interview with a survivor.

138 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

JOE FRIEDMAN

RG-50.030*380

Joe Friedman was born on March 10, 1921, in St. Joseph, Missouri. After Pearl

Harbor (December 7, 1941), Joe tried to enlist in the navy, but was encouraged to ﬁnish

school ﬁrst. Then, during his ﬁnals, he got a notice from the draft board. In July of

1942, Joe went into the army. Joe moved up the ranks from Private to Corporal, and

then Sergeant. After attending ofﬁcer’s training school, Joe became a Second

Lieutenant and went overseas in 1944. He was attached to the Third Army and became a

member of the 91st Evacuation Hospital.

Joe’s company was the ﬁrst to enter the gates of Ohrdruf, a subcamp of

Buchenwald in Germany, in early April 1945. The bodies were still burning. There

were no guards around. Joe’s company was involved with getting food and helping the

former prisoners in whatever ways they could. Before the war ended, Joe volunteered

for work in displaced persons camps. Wildﬂecken in Germany was his ﬁrst placement;

he was there for about a week. He was also in Baumberg, Germany, for several months.

Joe ended up as commander of the camp Coburg, a displaced persons camp in

Germany, which held 15,000 Eastern Europeans, mostly Poles. Joe was the only

American ofﬁcer in the camp with six enlisted men. The internees were fed and

clothed, and there was a hospital, schools, and entertainment. Joe received a letter of

commendation in September 1945 from Major General Robinson for his administration

of the camp. Joe was raised to Captain on or

ders from Robinson. Joe was later at

Ansbach, Germany

, wher

e he was commissioned to oversee all displaced persons

camps and German repatriation in American-occupied B

avaria. While exchanging

Germans across the Russian/American lines, Joe worked with the Jewish underground

getting Jews across the border from the Russian zone into the American zone of

Germany. He used false papers that declared the Jews to be German nationals.

Members of the Palestinian Brigade involved Joe in underground work while he was

commander at Coburg. The goal was to get Jews out of Russia and Poland where there

were still pogroms.

In early 1946, 125 of these Jews were caught and Joe’s activities with the

undergr

ound revealed. Joe was able to smuggle the Jews across the border anyway,

with help fr

om the American J

e

wish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Joe was arrest-

ed and going to be sent home. H

e was to be taken via F

rankfur

t, Germany, and

P

aris, F

rance, to Camp P

hilip M

orris.

When the train stopped in Paris, Joe went AWOL.

He was able to make it back to the United States. After three days back, Joe was given

an Army Commendation Medal. There was nothing in his record about his work with

the underground or going AWOL.

Sample of summary written for an interview with a liberator.

ORAL HIS

T

OR

Y IN

TER

VIEW GUIDELINES

139

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

FATHER FRANCIS CEGIELKA

RG-50.030*052

Father Francis Cegielka was born in 1908 in Grabow, Poland. He was ordained

into the priesthood and served as Director of the Polish Catholic Mission. He aided

Jews by ﬁnding Polish families that the Jews could live with temporarily during the

beginning of German occupation of Paris, France. Father Cegielka gave radio sermons

denouncing Nazism and in October 1940, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris. He

was transferred to prison in Berlin, Germany. Then he was taken to Sachsenhausen, a

concentration camp in Germany, and from there to Dachau, also a concentration camp

in Germany. Within the camps, he secretly brought people religious comfort. After

liberation in April 1945, he took back his ofﬁce of Director of the Polish Catholic

Mission where he tried to purify Polish parishes in France from Communist inﬂuences.

He was for

ced to resign, and he came to the United States where he has conducted many

retreats. In 1972 and 1974 he was nominated as an Outstanding Educator of America.

He is now Director of Infant Jesus Shrine.

Sample of summary written for an interview with a rescuer.

140 UNITED S

T

A

TES HOL

OCA

UST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

A

PPENDIX 10 / GUIDELINES FOR WRITING SUMMARIES

BENJAMIN B. FERENCZ

RG-50.030*269

[SUMMARY IN PROGRESS]

Place names not yet veriﬁed

Benjamin B. Ferencz was born in 1920 in the Carpathian Mountains of

Transylvania, Romania. He grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City and

was educated at the City College of New York and Harvard Law School. In World War II,

he enlisted in the United States Army and served as an anti-aircraft gunner. He later

was a member of the war crimes investigating teams and was charged with recovering

evidence for war crimes trials in German towns and in Nazi concentration camps. In

1945, he was asked by General Telford Taylor to act as prosecutor in the Nuremberg

trial of

U.S. v. Ohlendorf, the so-called “Einsatzgruppen Case.” After Nuremberg, he

became involved in the issue of restitution of the victims of Nazi atrocities. He was

appointed Director-General of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, where he

served until 1956. He also served as Director of the United Restitution Organization

from 1951 until 1993. Additionally, he has published a number of legal texts on

subjects of world peace and international criminal law; his book

Less Than Slaves

documents the effort to gain restitution for slave laborers used by the Nazi regime. He

remains an advocate of an international criminal court and is a proponent of the United

Nations and world peace.

Sample of summary written for an interview with a witness.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

1

00 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW

W

ashingt

on, DC 20024-2126

memory

testimony

record

understand

history

life stories

listen

recollect