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This paper reports on a research study conducted in the spring of 2018 in Hungary, on the impact of the use of video testimonies of Holocaust survivors in formal history education. The question the authors aim to answer is how using testimonies in history lessons affects students’ learning and attitudes, as well as skills, competences and social values–in comparison to the more traditional, textbook-driven history lessons. Results of the research show that testimony-based history lessons have a strong impact on student empathy skills, promoting affective learning through the connection of students to the stories or the survivors; they facilitate learning and better understanding of the event; they engage students in topics which the traditional lesson does not; and they satisfy the needs of students for visual elements in the classroom.