French-Language Article Traces History of USC Shoah Foundation

USC Shoah Foundation’s French consultant Emmanuel Debono published an article about USC Shoah Foundation and its use of testimony in the French review journal Études arméniennes contemporaines (Contemporary Armenian Studies).

This article “Le recueil et la valorisation des témoignages de survivants à l’âge du numérique: La collection de l’USC Shoah Foundation” (Collecting and valorizing survivors testimonies in the digital age: the collection of the USC Shoah Foundation) offers a critical reflection on the work of the USC Shoah Foundation. The article focuses on the technical aspects of the project, firmly anchored in the field of digital humanities, but also on the nature, philosophy, and uses of a collection that has extended far beyond its initial framework by collecting and incorporating the testimonies of victims of other genocides and mass crimes.

Debono leads USC Shoah Foundation’s educational activities, research and testimony access in France. Last year, ENS Lyon became the first full access site of the Visual History Archive in France. For the last four years, USC Shoah Foundation has curated a selection of French-language testimony clips for the French National Contest on Resistance and Deportation (CNRD), which thousands of students enter every year.

Educators have also attended teacher-training workshops on incorporating testimony into their classrooms, and there have been several French testimony exhibits, including Territories and Trajectories of the Jews Deported from France (TETRADE).

USC Shoah Foundation executive staff also visited Paris recently to attend a UNESCO meeting on Preventing Violent Extremism Through Education.