JMHS students will have the opportunity to work directly with professionals from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), in Washington DC, to transcribe the stories of Holocaust survivors and liberators. Through this program, students will not only be learning about history - they will be part of it.
The USHMM digital collections department has compiled thousands of videos of interviews with Holocaust survivors in their mission to document one of the most significant events in human history. As part of making these videos fully accessible to the greater world, USHMM needs to transcribe these videos. This is where James Madison High School are making a small but vital difference. Professionals at the USHMM will use the videos transcribed by Madison students to begin their first oral history publications. More importantly, the USHMM will be following the progress of JMHS students to see if this type of program could be replicated in in other high schools and organizations. This is the first and only program of its kind in the world.
Details: At meetings, students will use a transcriptional program called Amara to listen to, record, and sync the stories of those who survived the holocaust or liberated concentration camps. Sessions will be one hour long and students will work in groups. Service hours will be given and food will be provided. At the end of each session, students will participate in a group discussion to talk about what they heard.
Why it matters: Taking part in this program means being part of something much bigger than yourself. As a conception of our own identity, History is not a timeline of disconnected events, rather it is a dynamic and interconnected process, in which a single event can have far reaching effects. The Holocaust is no different. Madison students have the opportunity to play a part in this narrative as we work to record the last living memories of this event. Listening to these stories is truly humbling work - and often for reasons you might not expect. These stories can be very sad, but they can also be funny, hopeful, and inspiring. Most of all they will make you see the humanity in an event that is often hard to imagine.
For questions you can contact:
Adriana Maya or Simon Wong (Program Officers)
Mrs. Palo (cvpalo@fcps.edu)
Participating Student Reflections:
"The Holocaust Transcription program was so valuable to me because of the perspective it provided. Previous to this experience, I had always thought of the Holocaust and WW2 in terms of global trends and overarching themes. The transcription program, however, forces you to think about it as it affected the lives of every day people just like you. I got to hear stories from regular people whose lives were forever altered by the war. Understanding these effects was what made the Holocaust Transcription program such a unique and important activity for me."
How to Use Amara
Info sheet with directions (use your FCPS Google LogIn)