Learn about the Last Chance Testimony Initiative

We are currently recording survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. If you are a survivor or know someone who is, we would love to hear from you. We are also looking for interviewers.

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The Shoah Foundation Story

Watch our video introduction to learn about the Institute’s history and its current mission at the University of Southern California.

Latest News

Brazilian Scholar Studies Testimonies Related to Anti-Nazi Resistance in Latin America
As the Nazis assumed power in Germany in 1933, many artists and intellectuals opposed to the regime sought refuge in Latin America, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Read More
Thursday, April 20, 2023 - 1:56pm
One Youth Group, An Army, and Two Uprisings—The Resistance of Joseph Greenblatt
Joseph Greenblatt believes it was the antisemitic taunts he endured throughout his childhood in Warsaw that led him to a life of resistance. He was a key player in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and then took on the Germans again, this time with the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 — for which he later received a medal. Greenblatt’s testimony, recorded in New York City in 1996, is contained in USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive. Read More
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 - 2:51pm
Ben Ferencz (1920-2023): In His Own Words
In July 2020, Ben Ferencz, the last remaining Nuremberg prosecutor who died earlier this month, sat for a Dimensions in Testimony Education interview. Below are excerpts from the three-day conversation, which was released today.   On his Place of Birth Read More
Monday, April 17, 2023 - 12:57pm

More News

Education

New Partnership to Integrate USC Shoah Foundation Testimonies into Latin American Curriculum
USC Shoah Foundation Launches Armenian Genocide Education—Keep the Promise Teacher Fellowship Program
USC Shoah Foundation Releases Dimensions in Testimony Interview with Mona Golabek

Research

Brazilian Scholar Studies Testimonies Related to Anti-Nazi Resistance in Latin America
New Mickey Shapiro Academic Chair to Deepen, Expand Study of Holocaust Education
Research Fellow Explores Treatment of Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Violence in VHA interviews

Community Connections

Partnership Brings Survivor Voices to Hearts and Homes: This Yom HaShoah, USC Shoah Foundation and Zikaron BaSalon are expanding a grassroots revolution that is changing how the Holocaust is commemorated.
Dancers Give Expression to the Emotions of Testimony
A New Generation Embraces Music the Nazis Tried to Stifle

Collections

Boredom and Excitement at Sea: Jewish Refugees' Experiences on Shanghai-bound Ships
Dimensions in Testimony Education Releases Interview with Nuremburg Prosecutor Ben Ferencz
Nearly 80 Years After The Holocaust, A Survivor Tells His Story

Voices from the Archive

One Youth Group, An Army, and Two Uprisings—The Resistance of Joseph Greenblatt: On the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, we remember a hero
Theary Seng: A Little Girl in a Cambodian Prison Finds a Cruel Calling for Justice From The Killing Fields of Cambodia to a Life of Activism
Nearly 80 Years After The Holocaust, A Survivor Tells His Story

Technology

Past, Present and Future: Redesigned Visual History Archive to Expand Global Access to Holocaust and Genocide Testimonies
Starling Lab and Hala Systems file Cryptographic Submission of Evidence of War Crimes in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court
The Starling Lab for Data Integrity Announces Inaugural Starling Journalism Fellows

We Remember

Marta Wise, 88, Child Survivor in Iconic Auschwitz Photo, Focused on Educating Young People
We Remember Concentration Camp Liberator Alan Moskin, 96, Advocate for Holocaust Education and Remembrance
Dimensions in Testimony Education Releases Interview with Nuremburg Prosecutor Ben Ferencz

Family Stories

Child survivor Rena Quint’s 1998 testimony is an amalgam of her own memories, and details she put together after years of research.
Rena Quint, Child Survivor, Found Herself In Her Family History
Armenian Scholar Finds Lost Songs in USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive
In the Throes of the Armenian Genocide, His Mother Protected Him and Saved More Than a Hundred Others: Sam Kadorian

Watch and Share

Public Launch of the New Visual History Archive
Language: English
Antisemitism and Religion
Scholar Lab Lecture Series
Language: English
Antisemitism: Perspectives from Major Writers and Theorists
Scholar Lab Lecture
Language: English

Creative Storytelling

Our storytelling projects are both based on and inspired by the more than 55,000 testimonies in the Institute’s archive. They offer a deeper look into the emotional complexities of our survivor stories and told through the written word, video, audio and photography. They are opportunities to explore the impact that these voices have and the way in which testimony drives our understanding of conflict and grief as well as resilience, resistance and hope.

Julio & Dolly
USC Shoah Foundation’s Immersive Innovations team headed to Mexico in March of this year to spend a week with Holocaust survivors Dolly and Julio Botton. The couple, who have been together for more than 50 years, were part of the Institute’s first collection of videotaped testimonies back in the 1990s.
Poetry of Memories: The Retelling of Cambodia’s Past
I was laying in bed one day scrolling through Instagram, lost in the endless stories that have me so addicted to my phone. I skipped some and lingered on others, navigating the echo chamber of social media like a pro before coming across my local bookstore’s account. They were sharing books to read while their doors were temporarily closed due to Coronavirus. A vibrant yellow and blue cover with the words, A Nail The Evening Hangs On, caught my eye; it was a book of poetry — a rare purchase for me, but the nod to the poet’s Cambodian history pulled me right in.
What Is Home?
We asked you to submit your stories to us. Each week in April, we offered a new theme: spaces/places, family, resilience and messages for the future, and we asked for your stories. Your contributions were remarkable. We received dozens upon dozens of responses from around the world — from Morocco to Argentina to Switzerland, Israel, Canada, Poland and across the United States. Some of you shared that you even had family members in our archive.
Together We Are Stronger Than Hate

Stronger Than Hate, an initiative that draws on the power of eyewitness testimony to help students and the general public recognize and counter antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and other forms of hatred.

The Willesden Project

Inspired by the power of story to transform lives, this groundbreaking initiative available in IWitness combines testimony, technology and music to reshape Holocaust education.

You can help us make a difference
Our education programs bring the voices of survivors into classrooms, impacting future generations to build a better world based on empathy, understanding and respect.
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