Gift to support archive of Holocaust survivors' oral histories
at U-M-Dearborn

Joel Dorfman never heard the whole story of his father's experiences during the Holocaust until he stumbled across the Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive at U-M-Dearborn.

"I had heard parts of my father's story, but not the entire story," Dorfman says.

Since learning about the archive, the Dorfman family has made a major gift to help the project, and is encouraging more members of the community to become familiar with the archive and to support its efforts.

Joel Dorfman with his father's portrait. (Photo by U-M-Dearborn)

The gift from the Henry S. and Mala Dorfman Family Foundation will support continued work on the archive and help its preservation and dissemination to students, researchers and the public. Dorfman, a resident of Bloomfield Hills, is managing partner of North Star Partners. His father, who died in 2001, was chairman and CEO of Thorn Apple Valley.

"I vaguely remember my father, Henry Dorfman, having a conversation with Professor Bolkosky, but never knew he'd spent so much time and energy in such an interview about his Holocaust years," Joel Dorfman says.

"My dad's typical, matter-of-fact response when asked where he'd been all day was something like, 'I went to the office, had lunch with a friend, met with Sid Bolkosky, and came home.'"

Bolkosky, professor of history at U-M-Dearborn, has interviewed more than 150 survivors of the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews in the last 25 years, and has recorded about 330 hours of audiotapes and 60 hours of video.

"The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive exists to maintain a collection of oral testimonies of those who survived the Holocaust and make these widely accessible for educational purposes," Bolkosky says.

The project is working to raise $1.5 million during the next four years to support efforts to interview more survivors and to publish and disseminate the transcripts of the interviews so they will be widely available to the public. The Dorfmans gave $100,000.

Joel Dorfman recounts his experience of hearing his father's voice on the Web site: "To hear his voice when he was in the prime of his life talking about wartime experiences was remarkable—and eerie, especially since he'd been gone about two and a half years," Dorfman says.

"I listened a while, then notified family, telling them how valuable the archive is—not just to the Dorfmans and our children, but to others to be able to access this kind of information."

He also is involved in Holocaust survivor activities, including helping to provide psychosocial counseling services through the Program for Holocaust Survivors and their Families. He now contributes a significant amount of time and energy toward helping to raise contributions to finance the program's operations.

Dorfman is well aware of the time constraints inherent to the oral history project. "This is an aging group, so we're working against the clock," he says.

"My mother, who also rarely spoke about her experiences during the war, now says that she's ready to be interviewed. It is important that others hear about the sadness and the difficulties and learn why we should do everything possible so that something like the Holocaust should never happen again—to anyone of any color, religion or nationality."

The Web site for the project is http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/.