As USC Shoah Foundation celebrated the launch of the 45th Visual History Archive full access site in the world at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Hungary last week, ELTE presented George Schaeffer with its most prestigious award, the Senate Medal.

Through his philanthropic organization, the George W. Schaeffer Family Foundation, Schaeffer donated the Visual History Archive’s subscription fee, allowing the archive to be accessible to students, faculty and researchers at ELTE for the next three years.

Schaeffer is the founder and CEO of OPI Products, Inc., one of the world’s leading nail care companies. Schaeffer, the son of Holocaust survivors, immigrated to New York from Hungary with his family in 1956 and began working in the family garment business after graduating from City College of New York.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1981, Schaeffer purchased the dental care company Odontorium Products, Inc., and turned it into a nail care company after developing revolutionary new nail products. The George W. Schaeffer Family Foundation supports numerous causes including health and children’s charities.

Schaeffer said he first heard about the Shoah Foundation after receiving a mailing and attending a dinner hosted by founder Steven Spielberg many years ago. He supports USC Shoah Foundation because of his Hungarian heritage and because we should never forget what happened during the Holocaust, he said.

“It is very important for Hungarians to remember the 600,000 Jews (and others) that were murdered during the Shoah,” he said.

ELTE awards the Senate Medal to individuals and organizations who contribute significantly to the university’s education, research and international relationships. “I was honored that I had one small part in, to paraphrase [ELTE’s] Professor Ranschburg, helping to open the shutters of humanity and to make sure that they never close again,” Schaeffer said.

As for what he hopes USC Shoah Foundation’s legacy is, Schaeffer offers the famous Martin Niemoller quote about German intellectuals’ failure to act during the rise of Nazism:

“First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Schaeffer hopes that the USC Shoah Foundation and its archives will help to educate future generations.

“It will always remind us that we live in a fragile society, and we cannot afford to forget that a world that closes its eyes to hatred and bigotry is a world that has no future,” he said.