Yad Vashem UK and The Fed to extend Holocaust survivor testimony project in UK
The UK arm of Israel's Holocaust museum teams up with Manchester-based Jewish organisation to capture the stories of survivors in London
The Yad Vashem UK Foundation has announced a British partnership with The Fed to collate the testimonies of survivors and Jewish refugees across London and the south-east of England.
The Fed is based in Manchester and has a project called ‘My Voice’ which has been gathering the first-hand stories and experiences of survivors and refugees in the north-west of England. The proposal is for Yad Vashem to support the extension of that project across the capital.
Simon Bentley, chairman of the Yad Vashem UK Foundation, said the organisation had “enormous respect” for The Fed and their ‘My Voice’ project. “We at Yad Vashem UK are proud to be of support and are looking forward to working together in the future,” he said.
The Fed’s fundraising manager Raphi Bloom said: “We are deeply honoured that such a prestigious organisation as Yad Vashem UK has asked us to partner with them and expand the unique and important ‘My Voice’ project to London and the south-east. We are excited to enable more survivors to tell their important stories.”
Both the Yad Vashem UK Foundation and The Fed said they would help support those who have yet to tell their stories, whether privately or publicly, as it would provide “lasting legacies for their loved ones and the opportunity to present invaluable living testimony as well as educational resources for generations to come”.
While there will be a reliance on volunteers to befriend, transcribe, edit, and proof-read the testimonies, the partners said a project lead would also be recruited, to be based in Yad Vashem UK’s London office.
Last year, ‘My Voice’ won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. It documents the life stories of survivors and refugees, in their own voices, and produces individual books based on recordings of each person’s experiences and heritage, encompassing their entire lives before, during and after the war years.
The books are not ghost-written and consist solely of words spoken by the survivor. “Whilst this results in a long, complex production process it ensures that each book captures the individual survivor’s authentic voice,” organisers said.
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