USC Shoah Archive

     The USC Shoah archive is a very useful tool as it has collections from all different types of tragedies throughout history. I started with searching for a certain place which took me to Detroit, Michigan. Vivian Spitz was a war crimes trial participant. I learned that her dad was the town drunk and hung himself in his cell when she was only 17. She sat in on a big case and since that particular trial, people asked her to speak about it. I then found myself listening to Stefan Kosinski who was a homosexual survivor. His families home was seized in Poland and the food was rationed so he didn't get the right nutrition he needed. He was able to get a job as a choir boy and would deliver messages for the director's wife.

     I then continued on to the index, where I came across "abductions." Gary Matzdorff told a story of how he was a young boy and his friend's bicycle got run-over by a Japanese truck. The driver came out in uniform and tricked the kid into kidnapping him. His family fled from Germany to a ghetto in China as they were Jewish and were trying to escape the Nazi control. 

     Next, I found Julia van Nordan who was arrested for aiding the Jews. She was a school teacher who had connections with her Jewish students. She explained that society was able to come to the camps and try to figure out if their friends or family were in the camp according to the numbers they received. She had such good connections that the resistance gave her weapons! The German's didn't seem to mind that one of their Nazi's was killed by the resistance which surprised them. She lived in  hiding for a month in an apartment because the Nazi's new she was part of the resistance. They had a false wall where they printed fake coupons and identities. 

     I wish I had all the time in the world to listen to more testimonies but alas, that is impossible. The Shoah archive will be a useful tool as we continue to learn more about the Holocaust.