The Wonder of Their Voices: The 1946 Holocaust Interviews of David Boder (Oxford Oral History)
"Alan Rosen'sThe Wonder of Their Voicesis the first study to give sustained credit to [David Boder] and his mission in the ruins of postwar Europe...The book is an elegantly written, measured, and impressive addition to scholarship about early postwar documentation of the Holocaust, to the field of DP studies, to debates about testimony and the integrity of voice, and to knowledge about the empathy for the survivors in the postwar culture and scholarship in the United States...The Wonder of Their Voicesis destined to become the definitive account of Boder's interview project. Alan Rosen revives the dormant conversation about the contribution of sound and spoken-word testimonies to the history of Holocaust testimony." --Yad Vashem Studies"The Wonder of Their Voicesis a beautifully written, thought-provoking account of the interview project. It will be relevant both to courses on oral history and also to courses dedicated to Holocaust testimony." --The Year's Work in Critical & Cultural Theory"Nothing seems more important and meaningful to survivors than to share their experiences. In this volume, the reader will find memories that will enrich his or her understanding of an era filled with pain and anguish." --Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize-winning author ofNight"As the great ethnographer S. An-ski restored the lost lore of the East European shtetl, and as the martyred historian Emanuel Ringelblum documented the life and death of the Warsaw ghetto, David Boder rescued the living voices of the witnesses to the Holocaust. Thanks to his unique position as an insider-outsider, as an American in Paris, he alone understood how to capture their story before it was stifled or went stale. Through his meticulously told story, Alan Rosen has secured a permanent place for David Boder in the gallery of heroic and visionary fieldworkers." --David G. Roskies, Jewish Theological Seminary"Alan Rosen has done us all a favor. Most voices are lost to history. In writing The Wonder of Their Voices Rosen introduces us to David Boder and his pioneering work that joined the technology of voice recording with the experience of trauma. Rosen's research is thorough and illuminating and adds a new and important chapter to the social history of the mid-twentieth century." --David B. Baker, Archives of the History of American Psychology"In his skilfully written book, Alan Rosen provides the first in-depth study of the earliest voice recordings collected in 1946, many from Holocaust survivors, and of the man behind this unique project. An essential study for anyone who wants to understand what the Holocaust meant for the victims and how their early voices resonated." --Jurgen Matthaus, director of Applied Research, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum