Over the past 30 years, more than 59,000 survivors of the last century's horrific events have recorded testimonies with us, providing intimate accounts of pain, resilience, and hope that come together to form a rich narrative of history. Here, we have curated a small sample of short clips from our archive, and we invite you to explore more.
Core Holocaust Survivor Collection
Arye Ephrath reflects on survivors’ responsibilities
“We can speak for them”
Arye Ephrath was born in April 1942 in the basement of his home in Bardejov, where his mother was hiding to avoid deportation. He spent the first three years of his life in hiding, and Arye and his parents were reunited after the war. Here, he reflects on the millions of victims who cannot share their stories.
Gerald Szames recalls post-war American antisemitism
“He says, ‘I’ve never seen a Jew before’”
Gerald Szames was four years old when his family went into hiding in the forest near the shtetl of Trochenbrod, spending close to three years living in pits. In this clip, Gerald recalls an incident of antisemitism while a student at Ohio State University.
Ruth Crane held on to the power of ritual
“Everything else fell away”
Ruth Crane survived two ghettos and five concentration camps. Here, she describes how watching her father pray and her mother light Shabbat candles in their home in pre-war Siemianowice, Poland, brought her comfort and peace throughout her life.
Antisemitism since 1945
Hannah Kaye’s mother was murdered in a synagogue shooting
“Waiting to be killed”
Hannah Kaye was at the Chabad of Poway with her parents on Passover in 2019 when an antisemitic gunman entered. Hannah’s mother, Lori Gilbert Kaye, was killed. In this clip, Hannah remembers the sounds and smell of the shooting, and wondering, “where is my mom?”
Joe Samuels fled from Iraq in 1949
“I can adjust to the situation that I faced”
Joe Samuels survived the 1941 Farhud, a Nazi-inspired pogrom in Baghdad. With antisemitic restrictions and violence increasing in Iraq with the establishment of the state of Israel, he and his younger brother were smuggled out of Baghdad in 1949. Here, he reflects on the power of accepting one’s destiny.
Armenian Genocide Collection
Hagop Asadourian confronts genocide and its denial
“I have to beg people to believe me”
In the summer of 1915 Turkish gendarmes forced all the Armenian residents of Çomakli (now in Turkey) to march 300 miles to Aleppo, Syria, with no food or water. Hagop Asadourian, then 12 years old, was among them. Here he reflects on how surviving in refugee camps and orphanages, and losing 11 family members, shaped his life.
Dr. Richard Hovannisian on preserving oral histories
“Given a purpose and meaning”
Dr. Richard Hovannisian was one of the world’s foremost scholars of Armenian history and the Armenian Genocide. A child of survivors, he founded the Armenian Genocide Oral History Project at UCLA in 1969, recording interviews with more than 1,000 genocide survivors. He donated the collection to the USC Shoah Foundation in 2018.
Dr. J. Michael Hagopian survived to tell the story
“There was no safe journey”
Dr. J. Michael Hagopian, who later founded the Armenian Film Foundation, survived the Armenian Genocide after his parents hid him beneath a mulberry bush as Turkish gendarmes approached. In 2010, he partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation to preserve and archive 400 testimonies from the Armenian Film Foundation.
WWII Liberators
Alan Moskin witnessed Nazi horrors
“People are going to say we made it up”
On May 4, 1945, Staff Sergeant Alan Moskin entered the Gunskirchen concentration camp, a subcamp of Mauthausen, with the 66th Infantry, 71st Division. The imperative to document the atrocities, ordered by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, inspired Alan to share his experiences decades later.
Floyd Dade fought in a black tank battalion
“We died together … but we could not live together”
Floyd Dade served with the 761st Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army, an independent battalion consisting mostly of Black soldiers. He fought in six countries and was attached to the 71st Infantry Division when it liberated the Gunskirchen concentration camp in May 1945. Here he reflects on segregation within the US Army.
Rabbi Isaac Levy sought to connect survivors
“To tell them you’re alive”
Rabbi Isaac Levy served as senior Jewish chaplain in the British army, and participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In this clip, he describes how on a trip to Berlin in 1945, he tried to help Jewish survivors contact relatives around the world.
October 7 Attack Collection
Dorin Cohen was trapped for 27 hours
“Then they shot at our door”
Dorin Cohen hid with her husband and two small children in their safe room in Kibbutz Kfar Aza as the Israeli army battled terrorists inside her home. The family was rescued by the Israeli military, who were shocked that anyone had survived the assault and destruction that hit the home.
Ron Segev thought his life was over
“I could actually see the rifle”
Ron Segev and his younger brother were at the Nova music festival on the morning of October 7. When the attacks began they ran and took cover on the side of a hill, where they came face to face with terrorists. After a narrow escape, they found a jeep and rescued eight people.
Yair Avital defended Kibbutz Be’eri
“I was sure my family was dead”
As a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s stand-by unit, Yair Avital left his wife and children in a safe room as he went to the defense of his neighbors. Yair was hit by a bullet and grenades, and saw many friends ruthlessly murdered. While being wheeled into surgery, he learned that his family had survived.
Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda Collection
Francoise Muteteli is committed to remembering
“It’s hard to live with people who just hurt you”
Francoise Muteteli was a young teacher in Nyanza, Rwanda, when a Hutu militia attacked her home and murdered her family in April 1994. Francoise escaped the attack by climbing an avocado tree with a bullet wound in her back. A Hutu neighbor hid her in an earthen oven until she was rescued weeks later.
Alphonse Kabalisa finds the courage to forgive
“We don’t have to remain grieving”
Alphonse Kabalisa was 23 years old when he survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. His father and two siblings, as well as extended family members, were killed in the massacres.
Paul Rukesha’s world changed in April 1994
“I look at the sun in a different way”
Paul Rukesha, then 16, spent three months eluding Hutu militias who were rampaging across Rwanda in April 1994. His father, his stepmother, his brother, and many other relatives were killed in the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He remembers being rescued by the Rwandan Patriotic Army on July 4, 1994.