Between 1994 and 1999, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation—now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute—interviewed nearly 52,000 survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, compiling over 120,000 hours of testimony. The Institute interviewed Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah’s Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics policies, and war crimes trials participants.

Various methods were employed to reach potential volunteers for interview, including distributing flyers translated into 20 languages and enlisting help from Jewish communities and survivor organizations. The Institute recruited 2,300 interviewers in 24 countries, 1,000 videographers, and “more than 100 regional coordinators and staff to organize the interviewing process in their respective regions.” Holocaust survivors or witnesses were required to fill out a 40-page pre-interview questionnaire to help the interviewer prepare. However, the interviews are open and informal—lasting from two to three hours—usually dealing with the life stories of the witnesses before, during, and after the Holocaust.

For more information see the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.