International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27
Remembing the Victims of the Holocaust

The Holocaust survivors who shared with us their memories here at the U.S.C Shoah Foundation, also share the names of loved ones murdered during the Holocaust so that their memories would never be forgotten. To honor them and to commemorate them on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we've invited staff members to read some of these names.

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established by the United Nations in 2005 to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of the Nazis, and to promote Holocaust education and awareness throughout the world.

This year’s observance comes amid a global and increasingly violent surge in antisemitism. Dr. Robert J. Williams, the USC Shoah Foundation Finci-Viterbi Executive Director and UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research, notes that as we pay tribute to those who were murdered and displaced by the Nazi war against the Jews, our attention is pulled to the deadly and fast-moving antisemitism of today.

“Today, we honor the memory of the Holocaust by working together to counter the hateful attitudes and behaviors that allowed the world to stand by as six million Jews were murdered."

— Dr. Robert J. Williams, USC Shoah Foundation Finci-Viterbi Executive Director

“We are living at a time when antisemitism is at its highest level since World War II, whether it is the attacks in Israel, hateful rhetoric on American college campuses, or vandalism at Holocaust monuments. And what we are seeing is that violence against Jews is once again being justified and explained rather than condemned and combatted,” Dr. Williams said. “Today, we honor the memory of the Holocaust by working together to counter the hateful attitudes and behaviors that allowed the world to stand by as six million Jews were murdered."

The USC Shoah Foundation continues to record testimony of Holocaust survivors and is also recording interviews with survivors of present-day antisemitism, including survivors of the October 7 Hamas attacks. The testimonies will be part of a Contemporary Antisemitism Collection, documenting post-Holocaust antisemitism, and will inform soon-to-be-launched research initiatives, programming, and events to raise awareness and counter antisemitism in all its forms.

If We Never See Each Other Again

We commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day with the release of If We Never See Each Other Again, a film based on interviews with Kindertransport survivors for the Visual History Archive.

If We Never See Each Other Again, produced by our partners International March of the Living, premieres on JBS on January 21st and airs throughout the week leading up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the following times:

Sunday, Jan. 21 at 10:30 pm EST
Monday, Jan. 22 at 4:00 am EST
Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:00 pm EST
Friday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 am EST
Saturday, Jan. 27 at 8:30 am EST & 4:30 pm EST

Fear, Relief, Uncertainty
Liberation Through a 15-Year-Old’s Eyes

For weeks, Eva (Geiringer) Schloss and a small band of young women had been exploring the far corners of the women’s section of Auschwitz-Birkenau, alone and, for the first time in months, unwatched. It was January 1945, and Allied forces were nearing the camp.
Special Convening
Protecting the Future of Holocaust Memory in an Era of Rising Antisemitism

On September 6, 2023, the USC Shoah Foundation held a public convening at which a high-level panel discussed threats to Holocaust memory caused by growing antisemitism and revisionist campaigns that deny and distort details of the Shoah.

Voices from the Visual History Archive

The Visual History Archive holds several testimonies of Holocaust survivors who were liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hear from witnesses as they recall that day on January 27, 1945.

Remembering the Liberation of Auschwitz

Jewish survivor Paula Lebovics, Jewish survivor Howard Chandler, Jewish survivor Philip Helbling, Political prisoner Kaz Wolff-Zdzienicki, and Sinti and Roma survivor Julia Lentini recall their experiences of the evacuation and liberation of the Auschwitz camp complex in January 1945. Otari Amaglobeli of the Soviet Armed forces describes his involvement in the liberation of the camp complex on Jan. 27, 1945. This testimony clip reel was produced in partnership with The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.

  • Remembering the Liberation of Auschwitz

    Language: English

    Jewish survivor Paula Lebovics, Jewish survivor Howard Chandler, Jewish survivor Philip Helbling, Political prisoner Kaz Wolff-Zdzienicki, and Sinti and Roma survivor Julia Lentini recall their experiences of the evacuation and liberation of the Auschwitz camp complex in January 1945. Otari Amaglobeli of the Soviet Armed forces describes his involvement in the liberation of the camp complex on Jan. 27, 1945. This testimony clip reel was produced in partnership with The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme.

  • Language: English

    Eva (Geiringer) Schloss was 15 on January 27, 1945, the day the Soviet army first entered Auschwitz. But, she says, as the war raged on and uncertainty persisted, survival was a struggle even after liberation.

    Read about and view behind-the-scenes photos of Eva’s interactive biography for Dimensions in Testimony, an interview  that took more than 100 hours to capture with 3D technology.

    Read more about Eva Schloss's story.

    Watch her full testimony.

  • Gabor Hirsch on the Liberation of Auschwitz

    Language: English

    Gabor Hirsch describes his physical condition when Soviet soldiers liberated him in Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.

  • Language: English

    Holocaust survivor Miriam Ziegler describes her liberation from Auschwitz, first in her testimony for the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in 1987 and then in her USC Shoah Foundation testimony in 1994.

  • Celina Biniaz on the liberation of Brünnlitz Concentration Camp

    Language: English

    Celina Biniaz, a “Schindler Jew,” remembers hearing about the end of the war while listening to an underground radio at the munitions factory set up by Oskar Schindler in the Brünnlitz concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The Brünnlitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet armed forces in May 1945. With the approach of the Soviets, Oskar Schindler left and arranged for several of the camp personnel to leave as well. Celina Biniaz remembers her liberation and describes her liberators.

  • Eva Kor Shows Photographs from Auschwitz

    Language: English

    Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor shows photographs taken in Auschwitz, including one depicting her and her twin sister Miriam being experimented on by Dr. Josef Mengele.