Remembering Vilna: The Fortunoff Archive’s New Podcast

Meet the people behind Remembering Vilna: The Jerusalem of Lithuania, the third installment of Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust, a podcast from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. This latest 10-episode season of the podcast, which is produced in partnership with YIVO, brings to life the story of the destruction of Vilna’s vibrant Jewish community through recorded survivor testimonies and Herman Kruk’s extensive diaries.

Beginning in the mid-1930s with recollections of growing antisemitism, Remembering Vilna shares the experiences of a handful of witnesses to trace the upheaval that descended on the city with the start of World War II and an invasion by the Soviet Union, subsequent German occupation, the formation of the city’s Jewish ghettos, the Nazi’s wholesale murder of tens of thousands of Vilna’s Jews, through to the conclusion of the war and its aftermath.

Join YIVO for a discussion of this podcast with co-producers Nahanni Rous and Eric Marcus, the podcast’s host, Eleanor Reissa, and historical consultant Samuel Kassow, during which they will share excerpts from the series. This talk will be led by Eddy Portnoy, YIVO’s Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.