Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

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Collection is partially restricted: Some interviews may have limited access and use. See specific interview for access restrictions.
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Summary

Abstract:
One hundred fifty-three video files of interviews with 149 former detainees and others -- attornies, chaplains, guards, government officials, human rights advocates, journalists -- who witnessed the impact of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in the post-911 years. An additional 346 files, short clips extracted from the interviews featured on the Witness to Guantanamo site, are also included.
Extent:
10 Terabytes (High (ProRes) and low (MP4) resolution Apple MOV files.)
Language:
Materials in English, French, German, Arabic, and Uyghur.
Collection ID:
RL.11691

Background

Scope and content:

One hundred fifty-three video files of interviews with 149 former detainees and others -- attornies, chaplains, guards, government officials, human rights advocates, journalists -- who witnessed the impact of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in the post-911 years. A wide range of topics includes physical and psychological torture, religious faith, medical care, interrogation, trials, and women at Guantanamo. An additional 346 files, short clips extracted from the interviews featured on the Witness to Guantanamo site, are also included.

Biographical / historical:

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, became the site of the detention center for suspected al Qaeda and Taliban operatives. Peter Jan Honigsberg, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, began Witness to Guantanamo (WtG) in fall 2008, after realizing that no one was filming, collecting and preserving the voices and stories of Guantanamo. He modelled Witness to Guantanamo after grassroots truth commissions and the Shoah Foundation's collection of Holocaust survivor testimonies.

Acquisition information:
The Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection was received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2018.
Processing information:

Processed by Craig Breaden, May 2019 and March 2021.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2018-0164 and 2020-0082.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by interviewee surname.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials


Restrictions:

Collection is partially restricted: Some interviews may have limited access and use. See specific interview for access restrictions.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. See individual interviews for known use restrictions. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.