ABSTRACT
The time to conduct oral history projects with people who witnessed or executed the Holocaust or were persecuted during this period is running out. Soon, personal encounters will not be possible any longer. But there is already an enormous store of accounts. Holocaust education can and should make use of it. Students are commonly appalled by the atrocities the survivors suffered, have empathy with their pain and losses, and admire the strength that enabled the survivors to rebuild their life and make great contributions to the society and culture of the countries where they had found refuge. Many survivors have recorded their experiences in the form of a written autobiographical account. For those keen to explore the responses of Holocaust victims to Nazi persecution, and to the mortal danger to which they were exposed, diaries might be a better choice than survivors’ testimonies. Though diaries and testimonies are both ego documents, there is a categorical difference.
