Filled with stories of community, betrayal, trauma, and survival, the Orange County Holocaust Oral History Project collection includes more than 150 firsthand accounts of Orange County residents who experienced the Holocaust.
Between 1992 and 1995, the Orange County Chapter of the Anti-Defamation League recorded the oral histories of Holocaust survivors, liberators, and rescuers living in Orange County. The project was led by Holocaust educator and survivor Jack Pariser, and the collection was donated to UC Irvine Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 1995.
Most of the interviewees are Jewish survivors whose experiences included forced and voluntary emigration, death camps, forced labor, hiding, and resistance. The interviews also include five “liberators” (American military who witnessed the concentration camps following liberation) and three “rescuers” (who risked their lives to protect Jews during the war).
The UC Irvine Libraries' collection consists of 154 VHS tapes and related materials. Following the donation of the collection to UC Irvine, additional copies of the interview tapes were also donated to Chapman University, Yad Vashem, the 1939 Society, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
To access the full interview recordings, transcripts, and additional details about the collection and interviewees, visit the collection page on Calisphere.
Digitization of Orange County Holocaust Oral History Collection
Due to the fragility of the 30-year-old VHS video tapes and the increasing obsolescence of VHS equipment, the Orange County Holocaust Oral History Collection interviews were inaccessible, keeping these important stories hidden. To preserve these stories for the future, UC Irvine Libraries prioritized the digitization of this remarkable collection of oral histories unique to the Orange County region.
The Libraries began fundraising to digitize this collection in conjunction with our hosting of the USHMM's Americans and the Holocaust travelling exhibition in 2022. At that time, although some tapes had been partially digitized and put online by the 1939 Society, we were unaware of any other efforts to digitize and preserve the entirety of this important collection. Since then, we learned that the USHMM has digitized and made available their set of these interviews.
Collaboration with United State Holocaust Memorial Museum
Upon learning of the USHMM’s completed digitization of oral histories from the collection, we reached out to learn more about their plans for providing further enhancements to the collection. Through these discussions, we learned that the OC Holocaust Oral History collection held at UC Irvine contained four additional interviews that are not included in the USHMM’s collection.
Rather than duplicate their work, UC Irvine collaborated with USHMM to complete the project to preserve and enhance this important collection. This collaboration also served to maximize the contributions of our staff and supporters and increase accessibility to the collection.
In January 2026, the following was completed:
- UC Irvine Libraries digitized the missing interviews and shared them with USHMM.
- USHMM added these interviews to their collection and published them on its website, where they are freely available to all.
- UC Irvine Libraries (a) contracted with a vendor to create comprehensive, full-text transcriptions of each oral history; (b) draft detailed summaries of each oral history; (c) develop keyword search terms and metadata for each oral history; and (d) update online finding aids for the collection.
- The transcripts and enhanced records became a permanent part of the UC Irvine Libraries collection.
- UC Irvine Libraries created records in our electronic catalog for each oral history interview. These electronic records include the transcripts and other enhanced material, as well as a link directly to the related interview on the USHMM website.
Thank You to Our Donors
We were able to complete this important project thanks to the support of our generous donors. In recognition of their support, each record in the UC Library Catalog includes a digital bookplate to acknowledge donors.
Anonymous gift from OC Jewish Community members
The Samueli Foundation
Dalia and Noah Taft, in memory of Ethel Taft
ADL Orange County/Long Beach
Cathy Palmer, in memory of Miriam Gelfand
Theodore Capuano
Steve and Lauri Barwick
Julia Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard
M. Roberta Dornan, in honor of Eve Kopecky
Phyllis Gilmore
Celeste Signorino, in memory of Irving Gelman
Calvin and Ruth Boyer
Lorelei Tanji
John Renaud
Carmen and Dana Roode
Ana Vargas
Kate Klimow and David Golbeck
Margaret and Leslie Carter
Goran Matijasevic
Philip and Yanmei Martz
Judy Horn
Moyra Smith
Eli Simon and Sabrina LaRocca
Gwendolyn and Ian Black
Jim Considine
Allen Suh
Joseph and Devorah Bader
Roxanne Ford
Stephanie Davis-Kahl
Colby Riggs
Kevin Ruminson
Feyzi Fatehi
Allison Kramsky
Laurie Arp
Sarah Wallbank
Julia Gelfand and David Lang
Marguerite Brannon and Krishnaswamy Ponmalai
Carrie Cullen
Kenneth and Shari Charlton
Richard Nelson
Linda Murphy
John and Sherri Sisson
John Mendonca and Bruce Johnson
Joseph and Ramona Kuwahara
Kathryn Kjaer
Rhonda Bradley
Elayne Zalis
Cindy Zwies
Molly Tobias
Cheryl Baltes
Sherrie Kaplan and Sheldon Greenfield
Chuchu Liang
Rikke Ogawa
Loren and Jerome Weltsch
Dorothy Lasensky
Claudine and Paul Burnett
Aviva and Frederic Forster
Lynne and Chris Ramsey
Al Encinias
Angela Kraus and Robert Zepfel
Support Digitization Projects
Your gift of any size will help preserve digitization projects like these Holocaust survivor experiences for future generations.
A gift of $500 or more will be recognized with a digital bookplate and recognition note added to the electronic record of one oral history interview. Your bookplate will provide an enduring testament to your support and the incredible history being preserved.