The wonder of their voices : the 1946 Holocaust interviews of David Boder

xvii, 310 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Over the last several decades, video testimony with aging Holocaust survivors has brought these witnesses into the limelight. Yet the success of these projects has made it seem that little survivor testimony took place in earlier years. In truth, thousands of survivors began to recount their experience at the earliest opportunity. This book provides the first full-length case study of early postwar Holocaust testimony, focusing on David Boder's 1946 displaced persons interview project. In July 1946, Boder, an American psychologist, traveled to Europe to interview victims of the Holocaust who were in the displaced person camps and what he called "shelter houses". During his nine weeks in Europe, Boder carried out approximately 130 interviews in nine languages and recorded them on a wire recorder.

Includes bibliographical references and index.