New access to contemporary witness accounts of National Socialism in Berlin!

New access to contemporary witness accounts of National Socialism in Berlin!

The University Library of the Free University of Berlin announced today that it is making the interview collection “Final Account: Third Reich Testimonies” accessible throughout Germany for the first time. This collection consists of reports from almost 300 people who describe their memories of their everyday lives and their involvement in National Socialism as well as in the Holocaust and the Second World War. The online presentation will take place on May 12th at 3 p.m. and is organized in cooperation with the Vienna Simon Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, University College London and the Vienna Holocaust Library. Historian Dr. Stefanie Rauch and cultural historian Dr. Zoltán Kékeski will shed more light on the creation and contents of the collection, while Robert de Blauwe from the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) will explain his institute's role in the collection. The event can be attended in English via a provided Zoom link.

The interviews were created between 2008 and 2017 by British documentary filmmaker Luke Holland and include 295 filmed life stories of men and women born between 1905 and 1934. The majority of those surveyed come from Germany and Austria and include former SS and Wehrmacht members, secretaries, employees in Nazi organizations as well as agricultural workers and housewives. The collection offers valuable insights into everyday life during National Socialist rule as well as individual reflections on responsibility, complicity and guilt.

Access to the collection and research offerings

The Central Library of the Free University of Berlin offers historians and researchers in the field of Holocaust studies the opportunity to access these historical evidence. Interested scientists can register to use the collection. This can be viewed in the media room of the central library at Garystrasse 39. Access was realized through a collaboration with University College London, the Vienna Holocaust Library, the Institut national de l'audiovisuel, the Pears Foundation and Luke Holland's ZEF Productions.

Further information about registration is available on the Freie Universität Berlin website. If you have any questions, please contact Verena Nägel, who works with digital interview collections, on 030 838 525 33 or by email interviewsammlungen@ub.fu-berlin.de available.

Context and meaning of the collection

The Center for Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich is an international competence and communication center that deals intensively with research on the Holocaust and National Socialism. It organizes conferences and workshops and carries out its own edition projects, such as the publication of Alfred Rosenberg's diaries. These research facilities, together with the new interview collection, enable a deeper examination of the topics of responsibility and processes of memory.

By providing materials that illuminate both historical contexts and personal experiences, this collection contributes to deepening understanding of society's involvement in National Socialism and promoting reflection on guilt. The collected memories are not only a valuable contribution to historical science, but also an important tool for future generations.