Miami professor helps holocaust survivors tell their story
Ben Voth is helping Holocaust survivors tell their stories. Voth, director of forensics and associate professor of communication at Miami University, is leading workshops on public speaking through the Survivor Affairs/Speakers Bureau of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
It is increasingly important that these stories be told, as the survivor population ages and anti-Semitism remains active in the world, Voth says.
Museum staffer Terry Donofrio, a 2004 Miami graduate, contacted Voth to design the workshops. Donofrio, a speech communication and political science major, had many classes with Voth and participated in the forensics program.
When she was asked to develop a new program to enlist survivor speakers, Voth’s name immediately came to mind.
Voth has led two workshops in Washington, working with about 30-40 survivors in each session. He will return to lead two more this summer.
His topics include audience adaptation, contemporary anti-Semitism and contemporary genocide and the holocaust. Individuals are given a choice of questions to answer in impromptu talks, with their presentations videotaped for later discussion and analysis.
"I’ve been very impressed by their abilities," says Voth of the survivors, "and they are very familial and friendly."
Survivors from the speakers bureau addressed more than 10,000 people at 165 speaking engagements across the country last year, according to Donofrio, including talks at schools, military bases, civic organizations and other institutions. The new workshop will allow the program to expand.
Voth has enjoyed meeting and working with the survivors. "I’m passionate about people having their voice," he says. Donofrio adds that the survivors are equally impressed with him.
"Working with speakers who have been sharing their painful and tragic personal histories could have proved an overwhelming challenge for some instructors," she says. "Yet the dignity and respect Dr. Voth showed to each speaker, the manner in which he listened and addressed their concerns in earnest and his approachable demeanor quickly dissipated any potential anxiety."
One survivor told Voth early in the program that some people say the Holocaust didn’t happen. "'It did happen,' she told me," says Voth. "She said, 'it happened to me.'"
For more information on the speakers bureau and other programs of the Holocaust Museum, visit www.ushmm.org
Ben Voth, Associate Professor
Director of Forensics
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