The Memory Archives, an international project that shows the generational effect of the Holocaust through the personal recollections of those who experienced it, will premier Thursday at the McCormick Foundation Center at Northwestern University.

The Memory Archives was produced by 10 teams of two students each from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and the International Media Center at the University of Hamburg. The project was sponsored by the University of Hamburg and the city of Hamburg in recognition of the Sister City relationship between Chicago and Hamburg, Germany.

“What we hoped to achieve with the Memory Archives was more than an account of the Holocaust from survivors, but to show how something as traumatic as the Holocaust doesn’t just stop with the person who experienced it,” said Stephan Garnett, the faculty member who headed the project for Medill. “It carries on, generation after generation.”

Starting in mid-March, after the 20 students were selected through applications, they began researching the families of Holocaust survivors or refugees who had lived in Hamburg and eventually immigrated to the United States and settled in the Chicago area.

Each student team in Chicago then interviewed individual Holocaust survivors or the families of deceased survivors or refugees, and produced stories about their experiences and recollections. All the stories were produced on the campus of the University of Hamburg. The student teams produced five written stories, four short video documentaries and two 14-minutes audio recollections, all of which will be on display at the premiere.

“I think bringing all these different perspective together will help to get a more holistic view on the history of journalism,” said Dr. Steffen Burkhardt, director of the International Media Center at the University of Hamburg, who launched the project.

While in Germany, all the students were treated to numerous educational experiencers sponsored by the city of Hamburg or the University of Hamburg, such as a visit to Neuengamme, a World War II concentration camp just outside the city limits.

On the Medill side, the project is an extension of the schools Global Program, which seeks to provide Medill students with work and research experience outside the United States.

“We hope to empower students to be great communicators and journalists in an international market, but to give them experiences that are life-changing, that make them better global citizens,” said Mei-Ling Hopgood, director of Global Initiatives and Evaluations. “The Memory Archives project is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved. We are very proud to be part of it.”

For the students in particular, the Memory Archives provided more than a visit to another country. They learned about a seminal historical event from an intensely personal perspective, and had to opportunity to form work relationships and friendships with students from another nation.

“These stories need to be told and this was a unique opportunity to not only do some of the most meaningful reporting in my life,” said James Arkin, a student in Medill’s graduate program, “but to do it in partnership with an excellent group of German students.”

“It was so impressive to listen to survivors in order to keep their stories forever,” said Lena Janz, a University Hamburg graduate student. “I do have the feeling that we did do an important step in the struggle against forgetting.”

The Memory Archives will kick off with a formal premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at the McCormick Foundation Center, 1870 Campus Drive.