• Our History
  • Our Impact
  • Most Watched Testimonies
  • Top News

30 Years of Preserving History


  • Director Steven Spielberg founded Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in 1994 to videotape and preserve interviews with Holocaust survivors.
  • By 2001, we had collected 52,000 testimonies. Our Visual History Archive now contains almost 57,000 searchable testimonies, the largest such collection in the world.
  • We started digitizing our collection in 2008 and we constantly update our preservation systems. We hold 12 patents on digital collection management technologies that we developed.
  • In 2024, users viewed 138 million minutes of testimony on YouTube. 

Location


Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

In January 2006, the Shoah Foundation moved from Universal Studios to the USC campus in Los Angeles, joining the vibrant and engaged community of faculty, researchers, and students. In 2023, we opened offices at USC’s Washington, D.C., campus.

Expanding Research Horizons


Researchers, students, journalists, policymakers, storytellers, and the public turn to our Archive to enrich and expand their understanding of history. With its wealth of testimonies, tools, and resources, the Archive is vital for deepening knowledge and fostering meaningful insights.

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Our 30-Year Impact


208
Archive Access Sites
7,000
Scholary Citations
407,000
Educators
27 Million
Students
47 Million
YouTube Views

Our Partners


Viewers around the world watched 138 million minutes of testimony on YouTube in 2024. Explore some of the interviews they found most compelling.

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Top News Stories


Longtime Holocaust remembrance leader bolsters USC Shoah Foundation’s efforts with $30 million gift


The university celebrated Shapiro’s gift at an event outside Leavey Library on USC’s University Park Campus, the home of the USC Shoah Foundation. As part of the gift, the foundation’s space at the library has been renamed the Mickey Shapiro Headquarters of the USC Shoah Foundation. Read More

AJC, USC Shoah Foundation Partner to Document and Map Global Antisemitism


American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the USC Shoah Foundation announced today at AJC Global Forum their newly formed partnership to give voice to, document, and map modern-day antisemitism around the world.  Read More

The USC Shoah Foundation Launches Countering Antisemitism Laboratory


With antisemitic harassment and violence surging ferociously around the globe, the USC Shoah Foundation establishes a Countering Antisemitism Laboratory to research and combat one of the world's most virulent hatreds. The USC Shoah Foundation seeks an inaugural director for the Countering Antisemitism Laboratory, which will work with scholars, journalists, policymakers, and other leadership groups to address all forms of antisemitism. The Laboratory will house a major collection of testimonies from survivors of antisemitic violence, training programs centered on understanding and responding to antisemitism, an initiative focused on digital antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and other practical research efforts. Read More

USC Shoah Foundation Recording, Preserving October 7 Survivor Testimony


The USC Shoah Foundation is recording testimonies of survivors of the Hamas terror attacks in Israel as part of a major initiative launched days after October 7, when 1,400 people were massacred and some 250 taken hostage. Read More

Past, Present and Future: Redesigned Visual History Archive to Expand Global Access to Holocaust and Genocide Testimonies


USC President Carol L. Folt and scholars from USC and beyond gathered at the global headquarters of USC Shoah Foundation on November 11 for the public launch of the redesigned Visual History Archive, the world’s largest collection of primary source video testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides.  Read More

USC Shoah Foundation Launches 500th IWitness Activity with “In Lisa's Footsteps” Virtual IWalk


USC Shoah Foundation today launches its 500th IWitness activity with release of In Lisa's Footsteps, a primary level IWalk based on Mona Golabek’s acclaimed The Children of Willesden Lane books. In Lisa's Footsteps tells the story of Golabek’s mother, Lisa Jura, a young Holocaust survivor who in 1938 escaped from Vienna to London on the Kindertransport. Read More

You can help us make a difference

Our programs power research, education, and public initiatives that preserve Holocaust memory and support new efforts to counter antisemitism.