David Boder: Reflecting on His Work, Life and Legacy 80 Years After

The Diana and Eli Zborowski Center for the Study of the Aftermath of the Holocaust, The International Institute for Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem,

Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University,

And The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention, The American University of Paris,

are organizing conference on David Boder: Reflecting on his life, work and legacy after 80 years.

After the Second World War, the psychologist David Boder (1886-1961) began one of the first audio testimony projects with survivors of the Holocaust. Boder sought to raise awareness among the American public regarding the events of the Holocaust and wanted to highlight the plight of Jewish displaced persons in Europe. With this interview project, Boder already had in mind the importance of testimonies for psychological and anthropological studies. To collect testimonies, David Boder visited four countries and interviewed around 130 people. In his first book on the project, I Did Not Interview the Dead (1949), Boder published eight of the interviews.

The conference marks the 80 years of this audio testimony project and will invite scholars to reflect on Boder’s life and work and on the question of Holocaust testimonies in various fields like Social History, Linguistics, Social Psychology, Oral History, Ethnography, Jewish Studies and Refugee Studies.

More information on David Boder’s project, and access to all his postwar interviews with survivors are available here. 

All outside guests must register by October 4, 2026, on the online form below and come with a valid ID. Please note the sign-up form is for guests who want to attend the conference and NOT participate in the conference.