USC Shoah Foundation Helps Advance Responsible Remembrance in Panama
On July 10, 2026, Panama City's Museo de la Libertad y los Derechos Humanos opened Guardianes de la Historia ("Guardians of History"), a new permanent Holocaust exhibition. This exhibit encourages visitors not just to learn about the past, but to think about what remembering means for us today.
The exhibition is located in the museum's new Edificio Tolerancia (Tolerance Building). It looks at the history of the Holocaust and asks visitors to think about human dignity, the risks of hatred, and the need for each generation to remember and protect democratic values. The Museo de la Libertad y los Derechos Humanos created the exhibition with Fundación EMET and other international partners, including the USC Shoah Foundation.
The exhibition is designed to encourage visitors to connect with history in ways that go beyond their time at the museum.
"This exhibition represents an invaluable opportunity for educators, providing an interactive environment with information that will be new to many students, sparking their curiosity about history and inspiring them to become active participants in building a more compassionate, thoughtful, and engaged society."
— Elvira López Fábrega - Executive Director, Museo de la Libertad y los Derechos Humanos.
At the heart of the USC Shoah Foundation’s contribution are two interactive survivor biographies from its Dimensions in Testimony program. Visitors can engage in unscripted conversations with Holocaust survivors Pinchas Gutter, whose interactive biography helped launch the pioneering initiative more than a decade ago, and Lea Zajac de Novera, whose testimony became our first Spanish-language interactive biography. Novera’s inclusion in Guardianes de la Historia brings that experience into a permanent museum setting, making it accessible to visitors from across Panama and Latin America. Together, they allow visitors to ask questions and receive responses drawn from thousands of prerecorded answers, transforming Holocaust education from observation into conversation.
We worked closely with the museum to add the interactive biographies to the exhibition. Our team provided testimony content, technical advice, exhibition guidance, staff training, and support for setting everything up.
As the museum explains, Guardianes de la Historia is intended to help visitors recognize that "remembering is not enough" and to become "guardians of history" by carrying the lessons of the Holocaust into their own communities and lives.
This vision closely aligns with USC Shoah Foundation's mission. As the number of living Holocaust survivors continues to decline, preserving their testimony is only part of the challenge. Equally important is ensuring future generations engage with these voices in ways that inspire reflection, compassion, and action. Interactive testimony lets visitors have real conversations, helping them relate to survivors' experiences and see why these stories matter today.
The exhibition features historical artifacts, such as an original German railway car from 1941 used during World War II. It also has galleries about the Holocaust, antisemitism, racism, hate speech, and why protecting human dignity matters. Along with the interactive testimonies, these parts help visitors link history to their responsibilities today.
"Preserving testimony is only the beginning," said Dr. Robert J. Williams, CEO and Finci-Viterbi Chair of USC Shoah Foundation. "Our responsibility is to ensure those voices continue to reach people in meaningful ways. Partnerships like this one help bring survivor testimony to new audiences, ensuring its lessons continue to inform how we understand history and the choices we make today."
The installation in Panama shows the USC Shoah Foundation's goal to make survivor stories available to everyone. By reaching more people in different languages, countries, and institutions, we help Holocaust survivors' voices keep teaching, challenging, and inspiring new generations, even after the last eyewitnesses are gone.