Leading Change Through Testimony
Our core purpose is to give opportunity to survivors and witnesses to the Shoah—the genocide of the Jews—to tell their own stories in their own words in audio-visual interviews, preserve their testimonies, and make them accessible for research, education, and outreach for the betterment of humankind in perpetuity.
The USC Shoah Foundation Story
View “The USC Shoah Foundation Story,” a video about the Institute's history and its current mission at the University of Southern California.
2022: A Year in Review
The Institute has made significant strides in research and educational outreach this year thanks to your continued support. A short video of our 2022 highlights.
Institute Milestones
Key Facts
- The Institute houses over 56,000 audio-visual testimonies conducted in 65 countries and in 44 languages.
- Steven Spielberg founded the Institute in 1994 to videotape and preserve interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust.
- The Institute holds 11 patents on digital collection management technologies it developed.
- The Institute will celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2024.
- The Shoah Foundation moved to its permanent home at the University of Southern California in January 2006.
- Testimonies average over two hours in length, including personal history before, during, and after firsthand experience with genocide.
- 115,000 hours of video testimony have been recorded with all content indexed and searchable to the minute.
- Bosnian testimonies were added to the Visual History Archive in early 2022.
- Dr. Robert Williams serves as Finci-Viterbi Executive Director of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.