Deutsch 
English 
Over a period of five years, Rammerstorfer collected questions for Holocaust survivors posed by schoolchildren and students. Gathering 1,400 questions from 61 schools and universities in 30 countries on 6 continents, he distilled them to a set of 100 questions, unique in the world, which he used in the significant endeavor of conducting one-on-one interviews with nine individuals of widely differing experiences.
The survivors are from five different countries and were persecuted for reasons of ethnicity, politics/ideology, or religion. All in all, they were interned in fifty-four camps or institutions. Some interviewees’ experiences have previously formed the backbones of award-winning films and include such notable individuals as Leopold Engleitner, Renee Firestone, and Adolf Burger. They are joined by international Holocaust lecturer Simone Liebster and Hermine Liska, and the nineteen year long imprisoned Richard Rudolph. His internment spanned most of the duration of Nazi rule and ten years under the East German Communist regime. Rammerstorfer coaxes deep from their vivid memories stunning and moving accounts of their encounters with the Nazi regime. Further, he has been able to draw forth their message to a younger generation that deserves to receive and value this legacy.
What is truly innovative about this book is that all the Holocaust survivors were asked the same questions. As a result, a point-for-point comparison of their answers is possible. The interviews nurture the uncovering of details and invite the victims to speak of their formative years and to describe their private family background; this genuinely caring approach encourages the spontaneous recounting of the most frightening moment for each victim and reveals their survival strategies. As survivors go on to tell further details, we are moved to respect and appreciate the people who were able to survive and found the courage to “take the stand” for our benefit.
The valuable insights emanating from this book come from the witnesses of history themselves. Taking the Stand: We Have More to Say is a product of not merely one, but of many minds as these questions came from educational institutions around the globe.
367 pages
49 illustrations
The questions cover the following topics:
- Childhood, teenage years, and family background
- Details from the years of persecution
- Differences in conditions that prevailed in the camps
- The most frightening moment
- Survival strategies
- The role played by religion or an ideology
- Liberation, postwar life, and social reintegration
- Physical and mental scars
- Personal strategy for coming to terms with the past
- Memories of historically significant events
- Personal lessons and maxims
- Awareness-raising activities and personal legacy
- Current life and worldview
- Future plans
- Advice and a message for future generations
- 367 pages
- Available as Softcover, Hardcover, and eBook.
Prof. Lorenz Reibling, Boston College
- "Bernhard Rammerstorfer succeeded in his global research to eliminate the ‘noise’ of individual bias and recollection by systematically distilling a set of relevant transcultural, transreligious and transnational questions of common interest to students of the Holocaust. These standardized interviews clearly revealed, how different personality traits, religious and socio-cultural backgrounds of the survivors influenced their life stories and trauma management and in some cases led to a very optimistic interaction with present and future challenges. Rammerstorfer contributed a new scientific and human dimension to our understanding of the Nazi regime and its victims and martyrs."
Prof. Walter Manoschek, political scientist, University of Vienna
- “Bernhard Rammerstorfer meticulously checked the historical accuracy of the interviewees’ statements, discussed the answers several times with those concerned, and made additions where necessary. As a result, the book has value as a scientific work.”
