The archive also includes interviews with witnesses of national socialist crimes and persons from other groups persecuted during the time of National Socialism (for example Jehovah's Witnesses, Sinti and Romanies, homosexuals, survivors of the "Aktion T4"). These materials recently have been complemented by interview collections on other genocides (for example Armenia 1915 – 1923, Nanjing Massacre 1937/ 38, Cambodia 1975 – 1979, Rwanda 1994).

With the collection indexed in great detail, the USC Shoah Foundation, which was founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994 after shooting "Schindler's List", has established the world's most extensive interview database on the history of the Holocaust and of National Socialism.

Marketed now by the provider ProQuest, the in-depth indexing and extensive transcription of interviews conducted in languages other than English of the platform offer users detailed search options and the possibility to exactly home in on interview segments of relevant content.

It can provide historical research with numerous impulses.

Access is available to registered users of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek via the Database Information System.
Visual History Archive


Access to the database is also offered Germany-wide within the framework of the Specialised Information Services (FID) for Historical Studies and for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies for a technically defined group of users.
Direct call-up of the database with FID user ID
Registration via the FID for Historical Studies
Access via the Database Information System