Filmmaker to post archive of Holocaust survivor interviews online

Walz won the prestigious Adolf Grimme Award in 2006 for excellence in television with her documentary Die Frauen von Ravensbrück, or “The Women of Ravensbrück,” for which she interviewed some 200 survivors beginning in 1980.

Now some 120 hours out of more than 1,000 will be available on her website, complete with interview transcripts and survivor biographies.

The project was funded by the Brandenburg state Education Ministry and the Großes Waisenhaus zu Potsdam foundation, which focuses on youth education.

Brandenburg Education Minister Martina Münch will be on hand at Friday’s ceremony to launch the new archive in Potsdam.

Walz and her supporters plan to eventually make all 200 interviews, which include the testimonies of female Holocaust survivors from 23 European countries, available online for educational and research use.

Tens of thousands of people were killed by Nazis at the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Brandenburg during the Third Reich. The camp was initially set up to house women only, but later included children and a small camp for men.

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