Our Story

By Anita Hecht, Director of Life History Services

Anita Hecht, Director, Life History Services

In 1997, I founded LIFE HISTORY SERVICES with the mission of helping others honor the past, capture the present, and inform the future. An interest first sparked as a Fulbright scholar in West Germany, I began recording oral histories in 1995 with Steven Spielberg’s Visual History Foundation of the Holocaust. I conducted over 40 videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors around the globe in English, Spanish, and German.

Ever since then I have been actively helping individuals, families, communities, public institutions, businesses, and others record and preserve their unique stories. Along with a wonderful team of production assistants, I have produced hundreds of memoirs and oral history archives in print, audio, video, and multimedia formats.

With her father, Rudolph Hecht, 1997

Your Story

As you consider the various options, it is important to remember that the core value of any recorded history project lies in the quality of the interview itself. Meaningful interviews put narrators at ease and in charge of their own story while exploring substantive lines of inquiry. This process of meaningful engagement is at the core of my work at Life History Services. I am honored to serve each client directly, and I aspire to bring practiced guidance, intellectual curiosity, deep listening, and a professional production team to every project.

Below is a brief resume of my background and experience. I would be delighted to begin a conversation with you today about your wishes.

Over 400 personal, family, business, and community-based oral history projects
Licensed independent clinical social worker & psychotherapist
Trained interviewer of Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s Visual History Foundation of the Shoah
Published writer, lecturer, and oral history consultant
Board of Directors, Association of Personal Historians, 1998-2004
Member, Oral History Association & International Institute on Reminiscence & Life Review
Masters of Science in Clinical Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bachelor of Arts in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Phi Beta Kappa
Fulbright Scholar
Fluency in English, Spanish, German

For a free consultation, please CONTACT us.

We were very, very pleased with the results [of the oral history project]—the rapport you established with each of the various members, of different ages and attitudes, and the business like manner in which the job was done.

Don Green

Chair of the Edith S. Green Oral History Project, Temple Emanu-El, California

Being interviewed was a moving experience for me largely because of your sensitivity and capacity to sense the directions into which we should head.

Hildegard

Psychotherapist, California

Ms. Hecht created an atmosphere of trust and comfort, both of which helped me to relate the rather difficult yet significant experiences of my life.

Hans

Holocaust Survivor, Wisconsin

It’s been a wonderful experience. One great advantage of an oral history conducted by a pro, like yourself, is you think at the time you know everything you’re going to say and remember. And then in the context of a focused, professional interview, a light goes on and you remember things that had been buried. We’re talking about the obvious, and suddenly, buried, hidden under the obvious, is new stuff. It’s wonderful!”

Kenneth Roy Feinberg

Attorney, Special Master, 911 Victim Compensation Fund

You have a way of putting your subjects at ease and making them feel as though they and their personal stories are the most important of all the ones you have done.

Marvin Schonberg

Administrator/Writer, California

Being videotaped was so much easier than I had anticipated. Many of my concerns were eliminated at our first preliminary meeting.

Raymond Marks

Banker, California

I thank you very much for the interest you placed in this work, based on your intelligent and skillful questions that did not interrupt the flow of the conversation, but were inserted at the appropriate places.

Rina

Daughter, Mexico

Your expertise not only in the interviewing part, but in lighting, positioning, was impressive. I felt like a film star being directed by an expert director.

Golda

Philanthropist, California

Your gentle questioning and sympathetic manner helped me search and express ideas that had never occurred to me, but lay buried in my subconscious.

Joseph

Cantor-Educator, California

As the Archivist of Temple Emanu-El, an historic San Francisco congregation founded in 1850, my association with Ms. Hecht began in 2004 when she and I embarked on a project to digitize a series of decade-old oral histories she conducted in the 1990s. I cannot emphasize enough my respect for Ms. Hecht’s professionalism and for the initiative, creativity, and practicality she brought to our project. Furthermore, as I watched each of the interviews she conducted on behalf of Temple Emanu-El, I was especially struck by the sensitivity with which she guided her subjects. It was readily apparent that her preparation for each interview was extensive and that her ability to gain the trust of each subject and engage him or her in a lively, meaningful conversation was impressive. In addition, the supplementary written materials, which accompanied each interview could not have been more expertly produced.

Paula Freedman

Archivist, Edith S. Green Oral History Project of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, CA