News By Year

Judge Thomas Buergenthal, 89, Pioneer of International Human Rights and One of Auschwitz’s Youngest Survivors

The USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of Thomas Buergenthal, one of the youngest known survivors of Auschwitz who later became an esteemed human rights attorney and United States representative…
Monday, June 12, 2023

Marta Wise, 88, Child Survivor in Iconic Auschwitz Photo, Focused on Educating Young People

USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of Marta (Weiss) Wise, who was ten years old when she was liberated from Auschwitz, having endured the medical torture of Josef Mengele, along with her sister,…
Thursday, May 25, 2023

Center Founding Director Wolf Gruner Authors New Book About Individual Jewish Resistance to Nazi Persecution

The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research is delighted to announce the upcoming publication of the book Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler's Germany. Authored…
Friday, May 19, 2023

USC Shoah Foundation Launches Lecture Series to Address Antisemitism

USC Shoah Foundation this fall launches a new Antisemitism Lecture Series to showcase to wider audiences the latest scholarly research on the topic and convene some of the leading scholars in…
Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Reflections on Resistance and Roots of Research

In this blog, the Center's 2022-2023 Greenberg Research Fellow Raíssa Alonso reflects on resistance and the roots of her research. Brazil has had a complicated political past. When you learn…
Friday, May 5, 2023

Presence and Possibilities of Play?

In this blog, Center visiting scholar Robson Bello discusses his focus on play during his month of research. The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, in his important book Homo Ludens, defined …
Thursday, May 4, 2023

Boredom and Excitement at Sea: Jewish Refugees' Experiences on Shanghai-bound Ships

Between 1938 and 1940 an estimated 17,000 mostly Austrian and German Jews traveled from Europe to Shanghai, many on luxury liners. They were escaping the upsurge of violent antisemitism in Europe and…
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Center Will Cohost Lessons & Legacies 2024

The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research will cohost the 17th biennial Lessons & Legacies conference, which will take place at Claremont McKenna College and the University of…
Monday, April 24, 2023

Recovered Testimony Brings Light, More Questions, to an Armenian Family

Over the past month, for the first time, I listened to the testimony of my late great-grandmother, Mary Antekelian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. The interview is an audio recording, but I…
Monday, April 24, 2023

We Remember Concentration Camp Liberator Alan Moskin, 96, Advocate for Holocaust Education and Remembrance

USC Shoah Foundation is saddened by the passing of Alan Moskin, a Jewish veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces who, at the age of 18, helped liberate Gunskirchern, a subcamp of Mauthausen Concentration…
Thursday, April 20, 2023

In Actor Gal Gadot's Living Room, Schindler's List Survivor Inspires Generations

Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot opened her Los Angeles home to friends and family earlier this week to commemorate Yom HaShoah by hosting an intimate conversation with Holocaust survivor Celina Biniaz,…
Thursday, April 20, 2023

Brazilian Scholar Studies Testimonies Related to Anti-Nazi Resistance in Latin America

As the Nazis assumed power in Germany in 1933, many artists and intellectuals opposed to the regime sought refuge in Latin America, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Raíssa Alonso,…
Thursday, April 20, 2023

One Youth Group, An Army, and Two Uprisings—The Resistance of Joseph Greenblatt

Joseph Greenblatt believes it was the antisemitic taunts he endured throughout his childhood in Warsaw that led him to a life of resistance. He was a key player in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,…
Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Ben Ferencz (1920-2023): In His Own Words

In July 2020, Ben Ferencz, the last remaining Nuremberg prosecutor who died earlier this month, sat for a Dimensions in Testimony Education interview. Below are excerpts from the three-day…
Monday, April 17, 2023

Dimensions in Testimony Education Releases Interview with Nuremberg Prosecutor Ben Ferencz

Ben Ferencz, the last remaining prosecutor from the Nuremberg Trials who passed away in Florida earlier this month, gave countless interviews over the course of his illustrious career. But surely…
Monday, April 17, 2023

New Partnership to Integrate USC Shoah Foundation Testimonies into Latin American Curriculum

USC Shoah Foundation and The Latin American Network for Education on the Shoah (Red LAES) today launch an educational partnership dedicated to the study, teaching, and dissemination of Spanish…
Monday, April 17, 2023

Theary Seng

One morning in 1978, Theary Seng awoke alongside her younger brother in their prison cell in Boeng Rai Security Center, about 100 kilometers south of their hometown of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The…
Monday, April 17, 2023

Nearly 80 Years After The Holocaust, A Survivor Tells His Story

Gerald Szames is 2, maybe 3 years old. He is standing at the foot of the bed, looking at his mother. She is sick, propped up on a pile of pillows. He has other flashes of memories of life…
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

On International Roma Day, We Remember Roma and Sinti Victims Lost During the Holocaust

April 8 is International Roma Day, an opportunity to celebrate the Romani and Sinti culture and raise awareness about the challenges faced by Europe’s largest ethnic minority. An estimated 70 to…
Saturday, April 8, 2023

April 7 Commemorates Start of 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

April 7 is the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The day of remembrance marks the start of the 100-day genocidal campaign in which an estimated 800,000…
Friday, April 7, 2023

In Memoriam: Zenon Neumark

The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research mourns the death of Holocaust survivor Zenon Neumark, who was a close friend of the Center and passed away on March 27, 2023 at the age of 98…
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

New Mickey Shapiro Academic Chair to Deepen, Expand Study of Holocaust Education

USC Shoah Foundation and USC Rossier School of Education and its Centers EDGE and CANDLES yesterday held a special public convening to recognize the Mickey Shapiro Endowed Chair in Holocaust…
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Partnership Brings Survivor Voices to Hearts and Homes

They have gathered on living room sofas, on university lawns, in synagogue sanctuaries, in public squares, and even in embassy conference rooms for intimate conversations that have a resounding…
Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Call for Papers: INoGS 2024 Conference on Genocide and Survivor Communities

- Call for Papers INoGS 9th International Conference Genocide and Survivor Communities: Agency, Resistance, Recognition June 23-26, 2024 University…
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

In Memoriam: Kim Simon

The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research mourns the death of Kim Simon who for the last decade served as Managing Director of the USC Shoah Foundation. She passed away on February 28,…
Wednesday, March 1, 2023

With Passion and Commitment, Kim Simon, 52, Shaped Vision and Culture of USC Shoah Foundation

We are deeply saddened by the untimely loss of our friend and colleague, Kim Simon, a beloved member and leader of the USC Shoah Foundation family for nearly three decades. Kim passed away…
Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Betty Grebenschikoff, 93, Holocaust Survivor Who Reunited with Childhood Friend

USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of Betty Grebenschikoff, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, author, and speaker, who was reunited with a childhood friend in February 2021, 81 years after the pair…
Monday, February 27, 2023

Reflections on the First Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the devastation and human suffering continue to be staggering. Today, we remember the tens of thousands of people…
Friday, February 24, 2023

USC Shoah Foundation Launches Armenian Genocide Education—Keep the Promise Teacher Fellowship Program

USC Shoah Foundation has announced a new fellowship for a U.S.-based secondary-level educator to produce testimony-based instructional resources about the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian Genocide…
Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Professor Jan Grabowski Named the 2022-2023 Shapiro Scholar in Residence

Professor Jan Grabowski, a distinguished scholar of the Holocaust in Poland will serve as the 2022-2023 Sara and Asa Shapiro Scholar in Residence at the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide…
Tuesday, February 7, 2023