With antisemitic harassment and violence surging ferociously around the globe, the USC Shoah Foundation establishes a Countering Antisemitism Laboratory to research and combat one of the world's most virulent hatreds. The USC Shoah Foundation seeks an inaugural director for the Countering Antisemitism Laboratory, which will work with scholars, journalists, policymakers, and other leadership groups to address all forms of antisemitism. The Laboratory will house a major collection of testimonies from survivors of antisemitic violence, training programs centered on understanding and responding to antisemitism, an initiative focused on digital antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and other practical research efforts.

The USC Shoah Foundation and Living Links have named Mollie Bowman Managing Director of Living Links, the first national organization created to engage and empower third-generation (3G) descendants of Holocaust survivors.

An estimated 1 million grandchildren of Holocaust survivors live in the United States. At a time when the number of Holocaust survivors is dwindling and antisemitism is on the rise, 3Gs are uniquely qualified to offer personal accounts about how unchecked hate led to the Holocaust.

The USC Shoah Foundations mourns the passing of friend and colleague Ita Gordon, an indexer, translator, mentor, and researcher who, for nearly thirty years, channeled her passion for testimony into diligent care and expertise that helped the organization become a world leader in collecting, preserving, and sharing Holocaust survivor testimony.

As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we pay tribute to some of the people who helped build the organization.

Ita Gordon has worked as an indexer, translator, mentor, and researcher at the USC Shoah Foundation since its founding 30 years ago, channeling her passion for the organization’s mission into diligent care and helping to establish the USC Shoah Foundation as a world leader in collecting, preserving, and sharing survivor testimony.

The Division of Academic Programs at the USC Shoah Foundation invites applications for its inaugural Azrieli Research Fellowship for graduate students who are pursuing an Master’s degree (M.A., M.Ed., MMSt., MI, or other recognized Master’s-level program) or PhD during the spring or summer 2025 term.

The USC Shoah Foundation has named two key members to its senior leadership team, Senior Director of Programs Catherine E. Clark and Director of Administration Jenna Leventhal. The appointments represent a pivotal restructuring under the leadership of Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Robert J. Williams as the organization marks its 30th anniversary amid a global rise in antisemitism.

The USC Shoah Foundation mourns the loss of Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who fled Nazi Germany without her parents at the age of 10 and went on to become a renowned and beloved sex therapist and media personality. She was 96 years old. 

We mourn the passing of Dana Schwartz, 89, a Holocaust survivor and dedicated interviewer for the USC Shoah Foundation, who died on May 9 in Los Angeles.

Dana, who later became a teacher and marriage and family therapist, was four when the Second World War started. She and her mother escaped the Lwów ghetto and survived in hiding.

In a five-hour interview with the USC Shoah Foundation, Justus Rosenberg refers to himself as a “small fry,” “a cog,” an unimportant person. And perhaps it was for this reason that for decades, the Bard College literature professor hadn’t let on—to his colleagues, to his students, and even, for a time, to his wife—that he had fought and outwitted the Nazis during World War II to save thousands from persecution.

The USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of Dr. Abner Delman, a cardiologist and longtime supporter of the USC Shoah Foundation. He was 93.

Abner's wife, Ilse-Lore Delman, was a Holocaust survivor who fled her hometown to escape Nazi persecution at a young age. She spent three years in hiding. In 1998, Ilse recorded her testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation, and soon after, the couple became involved with the organization.