Teachers, students learn lessons of Auschwitz firsthand

Auschwitz survivor Paula Lebovics, center, spends time with students from USC Shoah Foundation’s Junior Intern program as they tour Warsaw on Jan. 24. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Auschwitz survivor Paula Lebovics, center, shares a lighter moment with students from USC Shoah Foundation’s Junior Intern program and USC Shoah staff members. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Deanna Pitre (left), social media coordinator for USC Shoah Foundation, and 17-year-old Natalia Smith look at selections at E. Wedel chocolate store in Warsaw. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Students Anna Hackel, 15, and Charlotte Masters, 16, talk about using USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness educational platform as Kori Street looks on. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Charlie Schenk, 10, and teacher Keith Stringfellow of the Charlotte Islamic Academy in North Carolina watch Holocaust survivor testimony together at a workshop in Warsaw. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Members of the USC Shoah Foundation Junior Intern program meet with USC Shoah founder Steven Spielberg in Warsaw. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Teachers and students – including instructors Adam Musial of Krakow, left, and Johanna Söderholm from Finland, center – visit a Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Clair Denault, 13, looks at a display at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Ruth Hernandez, 15, looks at an exhibit at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Hernandez was the winner of the first USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Challenge in 2014. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

Ruth Hernandez, Ana Lenchovska and Paula Lebovics view an exhibit at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. (USC Photo/Josh Grossberg)

As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles, it falls to future generations to ensure their stories remain vibrant and strong.

With that in mind, USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education brought groups of students and teachers from around the world this week to Poland to not only participate in Tuesday’s 70th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp, but to give them the a deeper understanding of the horrors of World War II.

The group — teachers from 11 countries on four continents and students from Los Angeles, Philadelphia and England — is spending four days traveling from Warsaw to Krakow, meeting survivors, attending classes and touring museums.

They came as part of Auschwitz: The Past is Present, a global communications and education program from USC Shoah Foundation and Discovery Education in support of the official anniversary commemoration at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

January 25-27, 2015