California Governor Declares Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day a Statewide Holiday, Junior Interns Use IWalk to tour Montebello Monument


California Governor Gavin Newsom recently declared that Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day—observed annually on April 24—will become a statewide holiday to be known as Genocide Awareness Day.

We Remember the Tree of Life Shooting and Judah Samet, the Holocaust Survivor who Watched the Attack Unfold


Today we remember the lives lost at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018. The Shabbat morning attack, in which 11 worshippers were killed and six wounded—including several Holocaust survivors—was the deadliest act of antisemitic violence in United States history.

Synagogue member Judah Samet, a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust, sat trapped in his car in the synagogue parking lot that Saturday morning as law enforcement agents engaged in a gun battle with the shooter.

Public Launch of the New Visual History Archive


Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 04:52 PM PDT

November 9, 2022
3:00 PM PST / 6:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM AEDT (+1)

Join us on campus or on Zoom for the public launch of USC Shoah Foundation’s new Visual History Archive (VHA) platform. With advanced new search functions and robust project management tools, the new VHA enables scholars, researchers and educators to connect with the 55,000 testimonies of Holocaust and genocide survivors and witnesses in a way that has never been possible until now.

Dancers Give Expression to the Emotions of Testimony


East Coast dance artist Rachel Linsky combines movement and testimony to create a novel form of Holocaust education. 

Rachel directs and choreographs ZACHOR, an initiative that honors Holocaust survivors through dance. Her latest work in the project is Hidden, a dance film and production based on the story of Aaron Elster, a Jewish boy who from 1943 to 1945 hid from Nazi persecution in the attic of a Polish family. 

Grace Nielsen
Grace develops content and strategies to promote the Institute’s programs. Grace received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and her master’s in public relations and advertising from USC Annenberg. While studying at USC, Grace worked with USC Shoah Foundation as the Celina Biniaz Intern.

USC Shoah Foundation Welcomes New Leadership


USC Shoah Foundation has moved into the next chapter of its work, with noted international expert and governmental advisor on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism Dr. Robert Williams appointed as Andrew J. and Erna Finci Viterbi Executive Director.

Greg Hernandez
Greg Hernandez is a special projects writer for USC News who focuses on diversity. He’s been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter and was also writer-editor at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Greg Hernandez is a special projects writer for USC News who focuses on diversity. He’s been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter and was also writer-editor at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.