"The History of Oral History"

In this video, Ronal J. Grele presents his book "Envelops of Sounds : The Art of Oral History". He is the former director of the Oral History Research Office. He also talks about some aspects. I have chosen the part about acurracy and interpretation (circa 1'03 to 3'04). I think it is a complement for our articles about procedures and limits.

"It does posed for us the transformation from the recorders. I describe this transformation as a transformation from a concern for data, to a concern with text. When I began Oral History, my concern was to recreate the past. To ask people about what happen in the past. To gather data about what actually happenned. And that was generally the attitude of most scientists into the interviews. It was a search for data and we were concerned with accuracy. We talk about memory. We talk about memory as an accuracy. How accurate was this memory? How could we test for the accuracy? How can we look at the interviews in such ways to understand how the interaction underminds the accuracy of memory, what promoted the accuracy of memory. If we are interested in interpretation, the interpretation rested with the interviewers' history. People will provide us with information and the interpretation will be ours. [...] the historians who collect the data and then interprate. There were couple of people who raised the question : maybe when people tell theirs histories they are already interpreting and maybe that's a first interpretation."

Flore-Hélène Fischer

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

The USHMM is an insitutional American museum which opened in 1993. It takes place in Whashington D.C. 22 other museums about Holocaust exist around the United States. USHMM is based on a Commission of President Jimmy Carter about Holocaust in 1979. The Congres authorized creation of museum in 1980. This museum welcome 30 million visitors  including 9 million children since opening of the museum. Permanent and temporary exhibitions are proposed to visitors.

Permanent exhibition is based on objects, videos, photos. This exhibition draws chronologically history of Holocaust since its origins. More 900 objects, 70 video monitors and 4 cinema rooms narrate this story. Interviews bring additional information about Holocaust and the Final Solution. This exhibition interest not only persecution by the Nazi system but also persecution of the Jews in other countries throughout the ages. In example, USHMM interests on pogroms in the East of Europe, or Dreyfus affair in France. The fourth floor focuses on period before the Second World War between 1933 and 1940. The thirst floor interests on the Second World War giving rise to the Final Solution, concentration and extermination camps. The second floor valorises Jewish resistance against Nazi system, liberation of extermination and concentration camp, and period after the War.

The tower of faces is a part of museum composed of three floors. On this tower, 1300 photos of Jewish families are put up. These photos evocate everyday life of a Lithuanian village. Population of this village was Jewish in a very great majority before the War. All of inhabitants were killed by the Nazis during the War in 1941.

Tower of faces

When visitor enter in room of permanent exhibition, he receive an identification card which explains the story of a victim of Holocaust or a surviving of concentration and extermination camp.

A specific room for children has created to explain Holocaust with simple words and shocking images for children. A specific exhibition has designed for children, and is centred of a romance of a Jewish children, Daniel. This exhibition is untitled “ Remember the children: Daniel’s story”. The story is based on collection of true stories of children who lived Holocaust.

Hall of remembrance is a room in memory of victims and surviving people of Holocaust. It is a place for public celebrations. You can find eternal flame which symbolizes eternity of memory, we mustn’t forget Holocaust.

                                                                Hall of remembrance

Temporary exhibitions enable to study a specific thematic as anti-Semitism, Nazi propaganda. USHMM propose touring exhibitions as the Olympic Games of Berlin in 1936, the persecution of Gays.

Museum works with different centres of Search and international cooperation.  The Center for Advanced Holocaust studies was created in 1998 and published a revue untitled Holocaust and Genocide Studies edited by Oxford University Press.  A groop of international cooperation enable to share experiences, archives about Holocaust around the world. This groop is formed by government and nongovernmental associations. This group comprises 26 member countries as the USA, France, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria.

If you want to have more information about this museum, you can visit official website of USHMM:

www.ushmm.org

Gwendoline CLAY.

An exemple of archives of oral history exploited by cinema : Shoah

Shoah is a movie directed by Claude Lanzmann. It is a documentary movie based on testimonies of rescaped people of concentration camp. It released in 1985 and commmercialized around the World as the United States, United Kingdom. The movie lasts 613 minutes in french version.   

Claude Lanzmann is a journalist, a film director born in 1925. When he was 18, he engaged in French Resistance during the Second World War. He was the partner of Simone de Beauvoir between 1952 and 1959. He has jews origins and  is an intellectual engaged in politic. He was anticolonialist and he was one of inculped because he had signed “manifest of 121” which denounced repression on Algerian people exerced by the French. He was engaged in Israelite cause and he devoted a lot of time to find Nazi responsibles to judge them. He campaigns for the memory of Shoah to not  forget this horror.

Between 1975 and 1981, he shot interviews of rescaped person of concentration camp. Interview was sometimes obtained by ruse .Interviews represent more 220 hours of recordings. The final editing lasts 9hours and 30 minutes and it is composed by interviews and image of extermination and concentration camp. Unlikely Night and Fog (1956), Shoah doesn’t really show horror of concentration and extermination camps and lets speak of rescaped people who have to be quiet during several years after the  World War II. In the1970’s, studies about history of the  World War II  evolved and historians wanted to narrate horror of this War in particular, the Final Solution decided by Nazi system in 1942. Shoah released in 1985 and moved deeply the contemporary society. All of recordings are conserved in USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC). Archivists of this museum are responsible to classify, to treat and conserve these recordings. They realized a movie with interviews  exploited by Claude Lanzmann for his movie.

This movie is untitled Shoah: The Unseen interview and released in 2011. Claude Lanzmann has proposed also three other movies based on rest of interviews. These movies were released in 1997,2001 and 2010.  

A DVD for scholar group was edited and proposes sequences of 30 minutes of the movie Shoah.

Texts of interviews were published in a book and  prefaced by a Simone de Beauvoir's text.

 A lot of books  about the movie or written by witnesses  were published. Principal witnesses are notably, Jan Karsky, witness of gettho of Warsaw, Ruth Elias, surviving woman of Extermination camp of Auschwitz, but also ancient nazi responsibles were interviewed as  Dr Frantz Goesler, assistant of Heinz Auerswald, or Joseph Obernhauser , a nazi officer of Belzec camp.

This video is a trailer on Shoah realized for the 25th Anniversary of movie.

Gwendoline CLAY.

An example of archives of oral history in South African

NARS with fundation Nelson Mandela collaborate to create the Center of memory in 2004. This project consists to make easier  access of archives for South African citizens and to establish truth about  Apartheid system. This  project consists in collecting narratives of thousands persons coming from different social categories. This collect enable for each citizen, to narrate their story, to witness their sufferings endurated during Apartheid System.
Transcription of video: "The African oral history archive started to three years ago. It started with the project to collect the real stories of the real players what does it means the most important period of history of South Africa. ... very exciting project because it is not only about South African,it's about for the rest of African continent.And all of generations africants students have to know where they go, to understand where they come from. Unfortunately, History involuntarily talks about only victories, the future generations don't have to forget opportunity of both side of history. The African oral history archive ... living testimony from people, involving, creating stories. the future genrations can make up their minds, they can compare views of point, they can get inside human being, they create, involve in reality and to come on all understand their real story. The African oral history archives ... several hours of real stories, stories normally which have not been told. Visually, now to expend these archives, to make living their archives,archives that they'd live forever."

Gwendoline CLAY.

A reflection about limits

 The true essence of archives of oral history  can bring up several questions. Above all the authenticity and reliability. For the majority of people, when they deal with paper archives or registers, especially old ones, there is no way to have doubt about their authenticity. Questions are not asked. They accept the information from those archives.

 Despite of rigorous procedures, a deep question remains about the "medium" : human memory. The archivists count on it. Human memory is not infallible especially whent the events took place a long time ago. The archivists have to deal with memory blanks and sometimes psychologic traumas due to wars for example. So, blanks can be voluntaries. The archivists cannot directly check  the memory. As a consequence, they have to find other witnesses but it is often difficult.

As provoked archives, the questions remain but in that case, history manages without very interesting and lively sources. When those archives are known and recognized, there is the question of their status. Are they auxiliary or complement ? In my opinion those archives and paper archives complement each other. Archives of oral history open new horizons and perspectives for history and people who are interested in those sources.

Author : Flore-Hélène Fischer