Contact Support
The best way to contact us is via email.
Email historyspeaks@holocaustcentre.net or write to History Speaks, The Holocaust Centre, Laxton, Notts, NG22 0PA, UK
Training to use the site
For training, please call 01623 836 627.
If you are a teacher, please register online, and there are lesson modules you can download for this site.
Training to create History Speaks site
For training to create History Speaks Website for your community, please call 01623 836 627.
If you wish to create your own country's website, please write to us on this email address: historyspeaks@holocaustcentre.net
How to use this site
For training, please call 01623 836 627
How do I register?
If you are attached to a college or school, please contact your teacher.
You can also sign up from the log in page.
Fill in all your details and your school will be contacted, and once approved, you can start using the website resource.
How do I book a video-conferencing session with a survivor?
If you are attached to a college or school, please contact your teacher. Or you can write to us.
If your school has registered with JVCS Video-conferencing booking system, please book your session through JVCS. There will be a fee charged for the 75 minute videoconferencing session.
How do I research Holocaust and Genocide topics?
There are many useful web resources such as the one hosted by USHMM and YadVashem website, and other Holocaust Museums or sites found in Europe.
You can also start by reading a few basic texts on the Holocaust. A reference list will be provided here soon. From time to time, users will also recommend books which may highlight a contemporary event or new findings.
You can also visit museums, memorial sites, and local archives.
There will be opportunities to post questions here which will be answered by other users and also professionals in this field.
Finally, if you have access to this site, filmed survivor interviews will be made available.
Recommended resource
CD-ROM
The Holocaust and Genocide CD-ROM(2004) by Stephen D Smith, published by Hodder
Films
Au Revoir, Les Enfants (1987)
During the Second World War, two boys become friends in a Catholic boarding school in the French countryside. One of them, Jean Bonnet, is a Jewish boy who is being hidden from the Nazis by the fathers who run the school. The director, Louis Malle, based this film on events from his own schooldays during the war.
Europa Europa (1990)
This German-language film was directed by Agnieszka Holland under the original title of Hitlerjunge Salomon (Hitler Youth Salomon). The film is based on the life of Solomon Perel, a Jew who succeeded in escaping Nazi persecution by passing himself off as an Aryan. It stars Marco Hofschneider and Julie Delpy, along with the real-life Perel as himself.
Escape from Sobibor
Made for television, this film was first broadcast in 1987 on CBS. It depicts the extermination camp of Sobibor, where the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners took place. In October 1943, the camp's resistance succeeded in killing 11 SS officers and some Ukrainian guards. Roughly 300 inmates escaped from the camp, although most were later re-captured and killed.
Schindler's List (1993)
Directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian, Schindler's List tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who employed more than 1,000 Polish Jews in his factories during the Holocaust – and thus saved their lives.
Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (German: Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage) (2005)
A German film by director Marc Rothemund and writer Fred Breinersdorfer, Sophie Scholl – The Final Days portrays the last days of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the White Rose anti-Nazi student resistance group. Sophie was found guilty of treason by the People’s Court and executed on 22 February 1943.
The Pianist (2003)
This film is based on the memoir of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish musician of Jewish origin. Władysław describes how he survived deportation to Nazi extermination camps, the 1943 destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997)
Directed by Laurence Rees, this BBC documentary series examines Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, their decline and fall, and the consequences of their regime. Its six episodes are entitled: Heaped into Power; Chaos and Consent; The Wrong War; The Wild East; The Road to Treblinka; and Fighting to the End.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
Based on the book by Dee Brown, this film depicts the displacement of American Indians as the US expanded west.
Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)
One of the most powerful statements in film on racism, Cry, the Beloved Country tells the story of a black rural priest and a white landowner whose paths cross in the South Africa of the 1940s.
Rabbit Proof Fence (2002)
This Australian film (directed by Phillip Noyce) is based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is the true story of Molly Craig, a young black Australian girl who leads her younger sister and cousin in an escape from an official government camp, set up to train them as domestic workers and integrate them into white society. Molly guides the girls on an epic journey of over 1,500 miles through the Australian outback in search of the rabbit-proof fence that will guide them home.
The Kite Runner (2007)
This film tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, Afghanistan, who is haunted by guilt at having betrayed his childhood friend, Hassan. The story unfolds against the backdrop of turbulent events in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy to the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and America, and the rise of the Taliban regime.
The Killing Fields (1984)
A British film drama, The Killing Fields is about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. An American citizen is trapped in Cambodia during Pol Pot's ethnic cleansing campaign of "Year Zero", which claimed the lives of two million "undesirable" civilians.
Don't Cry, Nanking (1995) (Nanjing 1937)
Directed by Wu Ziniu, this film is an historical fiction which tells the story of a Chinese doctor, his Japanese wife and their children as they live through the siege, fall and atrocities of Nanking.
Sometime in April (2005)
Set in Rwanda, this film describes the brutal genocide of the Tutsi people by Hutu nationalists in 1994.
Shooting Dogs (2006)
Based on a true story, this film is set in the Rwanda of 1994. An exhausted Catholic priest and a young idealistic English teacher find themselves caught up in the events of the genocide in Rwanda. They have to choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis who are about to be massacred or flee to safety.
The Devil Came on Horseback (2007)
This documentary exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, Sudan, through the eyes of Brian Steidle, former US marine who returns home to make the story public. Steidle worked for the African Union for six months as an unarmed monitor in Darfur. He returned home, his heart and head filled with the unspeakable images of what he had witnessed.
Darfur Now (2007)
Darfur Now explores the Darfur conflict through eye-witnesses, depicting the heroic efforts of people to respond to this humanitarian tragedy. It is call to action for people everywhere to get involved and help end the crisis in Darfur.
Books
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