It is our pleasure to announce that the Holocaust Center of Northern California and the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project have merged, creating a central Bay Area resource for Holocaust education and remembrance.

Both merger partners share the same mission: to preserve Holocaust memory and to ensure that recent history is taught in innovative and thought-provoking ways. “By combining our resources and our efforts, we will be more effective in teaching the universal lessons of the Holocaust. We will reach more classrooms, students and the general public with educational and cultural programs that show the consequences of hate and indifference,” said Steven H. Sloan, M.D., President of the new institution.

The new Holocaust Center will house a library, archives and more than 1,700 oral testimonies of local residents who are eyewitnesses and survivors of the Holocaust, gathered by the Oral History Project. These video and audio testimonies will be available for viewing at the Holocaust Center.

“Merging our resources gives us the opportunity to integrate first-hand testimonies into our extensive educational offerings. This is an important step in ensuring that our treasured collection of personal stories will have increased access, use and impact,” said Miriam Zimmerman, Ed.D., former Oral History Project Board President.

For almost thirty years these two vibrant Holocaust organizations operated side-by-side in the Bay Area. The Holocaust Center of Northern California was one of the first agencies in the world to recognize the importance of bringing survivors to classrooms so that students could learn history first hand. With its 15,000 volume Library, Archives of thousands of documents, photographs and artifacts, a large collection of Yizkor (Memorial) books, and varied educational and cultural offerings, the Holocaust Center serves a multi-ethnic audience of more than 30,000 Bay Area residents each year.

The Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project pioneered the gathering and preservation of Holocaust testimonies. By giving survivors, liberators and rescuers the opportunity to record their life histories, the Oral History Project created and maintains a powerful legacy for future generations. The collection of over 1,700 oral testimonies is among the oldest in the country and is still growing. The Oral History Project’s effort to capture and share these rare first-person accounts with the public is ongoing.

The new Holocaust Center will continue to provide a wide breadth of educational opportunities focused on teaching and remembering the Holocaust. By merging, the Holocaust Center and the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project will maximize their effectiveness in teaching the consequences of racism, hatred and indifference and increase their capacity to gather, preserve and disseminate historic eyewitness accounts.

To learn more about the work of the Oral History Project, or to see and hear an excerpt of a compelling testimony, click here.