In 1985, when Dr. Sharon Aroian-Poiser was a graduate student, she accompanied her grandfather to Washington D.C., to a conference commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Between 1915 and 1918, the Turkish government systematically expelled or massacred an estimated 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Aroian-Poiser watched as elderly survivors at the conference rose to tell their stories before microphones and video recorders, many of them for the first time. It was, in fact, the first time that Aroian-Poiser learned that her grandfather was a survivor.

Liberation75's Student Education Days are running from April 7-8, 2021, beginning at 6am PST on April 7! Liberation75 has brought together over 15 of the world's leading Holocaust education organizations, including USC Shoah Foundation, to teach your students the important lessons of the Holocaust.

We lost a giant in the fight against hate yesterday - Karen Wells, educator from Midland High School in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas, Discovery Education DEN leader, and IWitness Master Educator and Teaching Fellow. The Institute joins her students, Discovery Education colleagues, educators worldwide, friends and her family in mourning her loss.

Today we mourn the murder of eight people in Georgia that includes six Asian women — and we are appalled by the increased acts of anti-Asian hate and violence across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.   The horrific events in Georgia underscore the importance of working to counter anti-Asian racism. At the outset of the pandemic last March, USC Pacific Asia Museum experienced increased acts of anti-Asian racism that spurred discussions about the need for a campus-wide initiative to confront the rising tide of identity-based hatred.   

USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of Holocaust survivor and friend of the Institute, Julio Botton. Julio first recorded a testimony for the Visual History Archive in 1998 and in March 2020 recorded a Dimensions in Testimony interactive biography in Spanish. He was also an active speaker for many years with the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City and elsewhere. 

On Monday I received a voicemail from Suzan Trevor that her father Marcus Segal had passed away. I had only just met Marcus, albeit virtually, weeks before when he shared his testimony with USC Shoah Foundation on January 26th. While saddened by the news of his passing, I’m filled with immense gratitude for having had the opportunity to hear his incredible life’s story in the final weeks of his life.