TRU collection memories of Auschwitz

KAMLOOPS – A set of 74 DVDs is the only collection of video testimonials from British Columbians who survived the Holocaust, and it is housed at Thompson Rivers University.

The 74 DVDs are part of a larger collection of 50,000 testimonies from people from 56 countries created by University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute. The B.C. portion of the collection was purchased by TRU in 2007.

The experiences of survivors was documented in 1994 following the filming of Schindler’s List. Each DVD is two to four hours long and the B.C. documentaries include visual testimonies of people imprisoned in the concentration camps, people who survived by hiding or hid others and even of how a member of the Sonderkommando (special unit for the gas chambers) escaped death.

Today, Jan. 27, is the 70 anniversary of the liberation of prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The collection can be found at the TRU Main Library.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 10:40 a.m., Jan. 30 to add where the collection can be found on campus.