The USC University Medallion is an honor awarded to those who have made extraordinary contributions to the university. This is the fourth University Medallion awarded in university history.
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Open and Welcome
Dr. Carol Folt, President, University of Southern California
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Lunch
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Ani Ma'amin
performed by Leslie Goldberg, HUC Cantorial Student
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Remarks
Steven Spielberg, Founder, USC Shoah Foundation
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Remarks
Celina Biniaz, Holocaust Survivor
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Presentation of the University Medallion
President Carol Folt
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Remarks
Joel Citron, Chair, USC Shoah Foundation Board of Councilors
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Remarks
Dr. Robert J. Williams, USC Shoah Foundation Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Chair
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Panel Discussion
With Dr. Robert J. Williams and guest speakers:
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Shaul Ladany, Holocaust survivor and survivor of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre
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Rae-Anne Serville, USC student athlete, program participant in USC Shoah Foundation’s Leadership Summit
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Program Concludes
Letter of Congratulations from Governor Gavin Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom congratulates the USC Shoah Foundation on 30 years of service.
“Our state is grateful for the ways this organization has preserved the legacies of those who suffered during the Holocaust so that we never again repeat this horrific act.”
—California Governor Gavin Newsom
Holocaust survivor and educator Celina Karp Biniaz was one of the youngest people saved by Oskar Schindler and is one of the last living survivors from Schindler’s list.
Celina was 13 years old when she and her parents were saved by Schindler, after surviving the Krakow Ghetto, the Plaszow Concentration Camp, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Celina and her parents moved to Des Moines, Iowa in 1947. She graduated from Grinnell College, then moved to New York to earn her graduate degree in special education. She and her husband, Amir Biniaz, who died in 2022, had two children, Rob and Susan.
After Steven Spielberg made Schindler’s List and established the Shoah Foundation in 1994, Celina began telling her story for the first time. She retired to California in 1993 and recorded her testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation in 1996. Now in her 90s, she continues to speak about her experiences during the war.
Shaul Ladany is a world record-holding speed-walker who survived the Holocaust and the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Shaul was five years old when the Nazis invaded his hometown of Belgrade in 1941. His family evaded Nazi persecution by moving, eventually ending up in Budapest. They were deported to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in 1944, before being rescued in an operation known as the Kasztner train. They spent the rest of the war in Switzerland before moving to Israel in 1948.
While training in the Israeli Defense Forces, Shaul discovered his talent for racewalking and went on to win 28 national titles. He competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, where he narrowly escaped the terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes.
His 1972 world record in the 50-mile walk still stands.
Shaul had a distinguished career as a professor of business administration at Ben Gurion University. He and his wife Shoshanna, who died in 2019, had one daughter.
He recorded his testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation in 2023.