VIDEO TESTIMONIES OF THE HOLOCAUST EYEWITNESSES IN THE REICHSKOMMISSARIAT “UKRAINE”: STRUCTURE, METHODOLOGY, POTENTIAL (ON THE EXAMPLE OF YAHAD-IN UNUM ARCHIVAL COLLECTION)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.37.346061Abstract
The purpose is to analyze the video testimonies of the Holocaust eyewitnesses in the Reichskommissariat “Ukraine” of the oral history collection of Yahad-In Unum (Paris, France). The methodology of the research is based on the principles of scientificity, historicism, problem historical methods, as well as methods of analysis and systematization. There have been two methods of utmost importance to our study, in particular, the historical typological method and the method of classification of sources. Due to the above-mentioned methods, it was possible to identify the main thematic blocks of interviews and determine their potential for the scholars, who dealt with the history of the Holocaust. The oral history method has become the leading one. Scientific Novelty. There has been devoted a separate study on the analysis of the Holocaust oral history sources by the scientific institution “Yahhad-In Unum” regarding the situation of the Jews in the ReichsKommissariat “Ukraine” for the first time in historiography. There has been analyzed the Jews situation during the Holocaust from the non-Jewish testimonies perspective. There have been introduced a large number of unpublished oral sources into the scientific circulation. Conclusions. In the article there has been analyzed the methodology, structure of the oral history collection of Yahad-In Unum interviews, and the potential of these sources on the Holocaust study in the Reichskommissariat “Ukraine”. The sources from the non-Jewish perspective testimonies shed light on the details of the Jews situation, their death, and survival during the Holocaust, which were not found in other official sources. In addition, there is the information about other victims of the Nazis – mentally ill people, disabled children, and the Gypsies (the Roma) in the French institution sources. The above-mentioned sources reflect the non-Jewish population involvement (by force and/or voluntarily) in the Nazi crimes regarding “the Jewish issue solution”, the trauma of the Holocaust, and commemoration/memorialization during the post-war period.
Key words: Yahad-In Unum, video testimony, oral history, Patrick Debois, Holocaust, Reichskommissariat “Ukraine”, archival sources.
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