Jewish Federation Posts Friedman’s Recordings of Holocaust Survivors

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Hours of digitized video and audio testimonies from Holocaust survivors can now be accessed through the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation’s website, the organization announced Friday.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation partnered with the Mahoning Valley Historical Society to digitize numerous analog audio and video recordings of Holocaust testimonies.

These resources are part of the Dr. Saul Friedman Collection housed at the Jewish Community Center’s Schwartz Library and Holocaust Resource Center.

Saul Friedman, Youngstown State University professor of history from 1969 until his retirement in 2006, was among the early pioneers of Holocaust Studies in the United States. He implemented one of the first Holocaust courses in the nation at YSU. And Friedman was instrumental in creating the YSU Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies – funded by a generous endowment by William and Hilda Clayman.

Among his many other achievements, Friedman’s efforts led to the dedication of a Holocaust memorial on the grounds of the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown.

Following Friedman’s death in 2013, his family donated many of his records and works to the Schwartz Library and Holocaust Resource Center. These works consist of essays, lectures, and recordings of interviews with local Holocaust survivors. More than 50 cassette tapes and two 8mm films, with hours of important history and stories, were converted to a digital format.

The Jewish Community Relations Council, the public affairs department of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, represents the Jewish communities of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties and of the Shenango Valley. Its mandate is to protect, preserve, and promote a just, democratic, and pluralistic American society, and to safeguard the rights of Jews here, in Israel, and around the world.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.