Hannah Lessing represents Austrian society’s desire to atone. Her unique job involves, among other things, tracking down Austrian Holocaust survivors or their kin – inside the country and out – to offer financial reparations.
Lessing, the secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, came to USC Shoah Foundation this week to discuss a potential collaborative project with the Institute.
Ignited by students’ enthusiasm over IWitness's recent “100 Days to Inspire Respect” initiative, a campaign called #180DaysToInspireRespect has students at Robert Adams Middle School in Massachusetts volunteering each day to present about the respectful acts they’ve witnessed, received, read and heard about.
Racism. Holocaust denial. BDS. Students at USC Shoah Foundation’s second-annual Intercollegiate Diversity Congress Summit delved into some of the touchiest campus topics, and discussed ways to effect positive change.
A pioneering moment for Holocaust education, the world’s first virtual reality film to take audiences through a concentration camp, launches as immersive experience at four museums in New York, California, Illinois and Florida for limited-engagement exhibit.
During the Institute's inaugural summer William P. Lauder Internship Program, about two-dozen young people came to USC Shoah Foundation from across the country to participate in the intensive program, which focused on the causes and impacts of injustice and the ways an individual can respond.
The timeline and accompanying video by students at Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago encouraged their classmates to embrace each other’s unique differences – as well as appreciate their similarities – specifically as it relates to the challenges of American immigrant communities.
While the younger students turned their attention to the themes of racism, sexism and antisemitism, the older students tried something new this year: T-shirts covered with messages of gender equality.
A newly published article in the peer-reviewed journal Social Education focuses on the potential of virtual reality in the classroom, and highlights USC Shoah Foundation’s virtual reality film 'Lala.' The 6-minute film centers on Holocaust survivor Roman Kent, who shares the story of his time in Nazi-occupied Poland alongside his beloved dog Lala.
Three graduates of USC Shoah Foundation’s Master Teacher program in Central Europe traveled to Los Angeles this week for additional training to take their use of IWitness and testimony to the next level.
A person doesn’t visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland and come away unchanged, and I was no exception.
The empty barracks, the barbed-wire fencing, the solemn exhibits, the telltale chimneys – all these vestiges left a strong impression. But what struck me most was the sheer vastness of the sprawling memorial to history’s most notorious death camp.
Walking through Birkenau with my tour group, I gaped at the emptiness stretching for a mile in every direction – nothing but the crumbling remains of buildings half-buried in snow.
Articles by Rob Kuznia
Head of Austrian fund for Holocaust reparations visits Institute
Hannah Lessing represents Austrian society’s desire to atone. Her unique job involves, among other things, tracking down Austrian Holocaust survivors or their kin – inside the country and out – to offer financial reparations.
Lessing, the secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, came to USC Shoah Foundation this week to discuss a potential collaborative project with the Institute.
Eighth-grade class inspired by IWitness to highlight good deeds
Thorny campus-climate issues addressed head on at Summit
USC Shoah Foundation and Leading Holocaust Museums to Premiere and Exhibit Award-Winning Virtual Reality Film ‘The Last Goodbye’
Teens tackle world problems at Institute's first weeklong summer internship program
IWitness Video Challenge winners prompt fellow students to reflect on immigration struggles of their ancestors
Junior Interns finish video projects to counter intolerance
Academic journal: VR film 'Lala' an effective teaching tool for kids
Central European Educators Attend Master Teacher Workshop at USC Shoah Foundation
The Impact of Visiting Auschwitz
A person doesn’t visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland and come away unchanged, and I was no exception.
The empty barracks, the barbed-wire fencing, the solemn exhibits, the telltale chimneys – all these vestiges left a strong impression. But what struck me most was the sheer vastness of the sprawling memorial to history’s most notorious death camp.
Walking through Birkenau with my tour group, I gaped at the emptiness stretching for a mile in every direction – nothing but the crumbling remains of buildings half-buried in snow.