With MSU’s new access to the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive and its more than 54,000 hours of testimony from witnesses to and survivors of genocide, MSU’s Jewish Studies program has taken several steps to excite and promote scholarship that uses these materials. After a rich and well-attended workshop about using these testimonies in both research and teaching in the fall, I decided we should continue to explore the issues raised by many of the participants.

Additionally, with the arrival of Dr. Amy Simon as the new William and Audrey Farber Family Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History here at MSU and the appointment of Dr. Anya Quilitzsch as the lecturer in Yiddish language at U of M, we had a stellar group of scholars in the field all working within the area.  Dr. Jeffrey Veidlinger, director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at U of M, Anya, Amy and I all worked to varying extents on the AHEYM project. This convergence/reunion of colleagues all working in the field of Yiddish and history inspired me to put together this panel.