With the first day of school already behind many students and teachers, USC Shoah Foundation is debuting several new educational materials that can help educators teach about genocide, civil rights, tolerance and other topics.

USC Shoah Foundation hosted a special event titled The Digital Future of Holocaust Memory and Education in Aspen, Colorado, yesterday, to introduce new supporters to the work of the Institute.

Tracy Sockalosky left Poland inspired by new ways she can incorporate testimony and the lessons she learned from "Auschwitz: The Past is Present" (APIP) into her courses at Wilson Middle School in Natick, Mass.

The Junior Intern Program at USC Shoah Foundation is entering its second year and looking for young people who are passionate about human rights and tolerance to be part of it.

As I start a new school year in a new school teaching a new grade level, I find it slightly ironic that the first theme that my textbook series addresses is courage. As I start another school year, I have thought deeply about courage and mix of emotions that come into play that very first day of school. Many may not readily admit it, but the first day of the school year for both teachers and students is filled nervousness and unease. A first impression is extremely important, and a good first day can set the tone for a very productive school year.

Seeing new students starting their fall semester at USC – my recent alma mater – gives me a strange feeling. I have worked at USC Shoah Foundation during most of my career as an USC undergraduate student, and now I am about to step away from my favorite university and nonprofit organization. I’ve learned invaluable life lessons from video testimony as well as my wonderful coworkers.

A Modern Germany history course taught by Longwood University Professor Melissa Kravetz received an honorable mention for “Interesting Assignment” from the H-German online network for its IWitness-based final assignment.

Steven Spielberg will present William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, with USC Shoah Foundation’s highest honor — the Ambassador for Humanity Award –– at the organization’s annual gala.

Virtually everyone has listened to a popular song with its lyrics changed for comedic or dramatic effect. But a perhaps little-known fact of the Holocaust is that this type of parody was also a common practice in some of the most hellish places on Earth: concentration camps.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has constructed a new IWitness activity in conjunction with the museum’s Some Were Neighbors exhibit.

It was Ford Motor Company Executive Director William Clay Ford Jr.’s commitment to education and his devotion to the Detroit community that prompted USC Shoah Foundation to honor him with this year’s Ambassador for Humanity Award.

Educators have two opportunities to learn about IWitness along with fellow teachers over the next two weeks: a webinar and first-ever Twitter chat.

While guests of the 2015 Ambassadors for Humanity Gala on Sept. 10 trickled into the Henry Ford Museum and enjoyed a cocktail reception before dinner began, a small group of high school students was hard at work.

As Hannah, in the novel The Devil's Arithmetic, needed to have a first-hand experience to fully understand the Holocaust; my students must be equipped with first-hand information, too. While they cannot "time travel" as Hannah does, they can hear from survivors to have a greater understanding of the Holocaust.

Musician and music scholar Alexandra Birch will discuss the resistance demonstrated by one of the 20th century’s most renowned composers, Dmitri Shostakovich, in her presentation at the Music as Resistance to Genocide academic symposium.

Заснований Стівеном Спілбергом Фонд Шоа зберігає тисячі відеосвідчень про Голокост. Фонд Шоа створив Стівен Спілберг після того, як зняв фільм «Список Шиндлера». Сьогодні колекція нараховує 53 тисячі відеосвідчень. Про збереження пам'яті розповідає Анна Ленчовська, українська координаторка Інституту візуальної історії та освіти Фонду Шоа (університет Південної Каліфорнії, США).

Students can now get even more creative with their IWitness Information Quests.

A new exhibit on the USC Shoah Foundation website takes a closer look at the stories of refugees during World War II. It is inspired by the current refugee crisis in Europe.

In an effort to create a deeper engagement with educators online, USC Shoah Foundation’s educational website IWitness hosts monthly Twitter chats.

USC Shoah Foundation Senior International Program Consultant Martin Šmok has begun teaching a yearlong course at the Ronald Lauder Jewish School in Prague to introduce students to the Visual History Archive and testimony.

Musicologist Janie Cole will discuss how “freedom songs” provided an oppressed community with political expression, resistance, therapy, identity, memory and resilience to confront potential violence and death.

We have ample historical evidence that hateful words can be as dangerous as physical violence itself. German poet, Heinrich Heine said in 1821, “He who burns books will soon burn people.”

“I can’t stand coffee!” she said, leaning forward to me before uttering back to the waitress. “Espresso please!” She giggled a little before telling me that espresso was her little dessert in the morning.

New Dimensions in Testimony, USC Shoah Foundation’s project with Conscience Display to record three-dimensional, interactive testimonies of Holocaust survivors, is set to expand in a big way.

Junior Intern Charlotte Masters made a very personal discovery during the trip to Poland and continues to share her experiences today.

​At the academic symposium, scholars will discuss how music was used as resistance in a number of conflicts around the world. Tina Frühauf will instead focus on the very definition of “resistance” itself.

Thurs., Oct. 1 is your chance to interact live on Twitter with USC Shoah Foundation archivists Sandra Aguilar and Daryn Eller.

The Visual History Archive contains 53,000 eyewitness testimonies to genocide and mass atrocities. What you might not know is that each testimony is indexed to the minute with over 62,000 keys words in the entire Archive. USC Shoah Foundation commemorates National Archives Month this November by participating in #AskAnArchivist Day on Thurs., Oct. 1, and sharing 10 more unique facts about the Visual History Archive.

A few familiar faces and many more new students attended the first session of the 2015-16 Junior Intern program at USC Shoah Foundation this weekend.

One of Poland's most beloved films is a unique example of music uniting both Jews and gentiles in the immediate post-war period that would soon become very difficult to find anywhere else.