It is time for USC Shoah Foundation to welcome its next Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service Ambassador.

Sebastian Goditsch is the 11th young man from Austria to complete his compulsory military service by working at USC Shoah Foundation for up to a year as part of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (AHMS). The AHMS, founded by Andreas Maislinger in 1992, is an alternative to Austria’s six-month military service requirement for men; instead of serving in the military, they can complete year-long internships at Holocaust memorial institutions around the world or other social service organizations.

Goditsch graduated from high school in Salzburg in 2014 and spent the first six months of his service at Dokumentation Obersalzburg in Bavaria, Germany. Dokumentation Obersalzburg is a museum and educational center located at Adolf Hitler’s former holiday retreat, which became the second seat of government for the Third Reich. Goditsch said one of his most memorable experiences there was learning how to lead tours of the museum’s new Anne Frank exhibit.

He will spend the remaining six months of his service at USC Shoah Foundation, where he will help with research projects, interact with callers and visitors at the front desk and perform other administrative tasks. Though he has only been working for about a week, he has already helped archive documents donated to the Institute by Holocaust survivor Dario Gabbai and designed a flyer for an upcoming event. Goditsch said he enjoys the fast pace of the Institute and getting to work on many different assignments.

“There’s always something to do,” Goditsch said.

He was also excited to search the Visual History Archive and watch the testimony of Marko Feingold, a leader of the Jewish community in Salzburg who Goditsch has met before.

Goditsch, who hopes to be a math or history teacher, said he is looking forward to his six months in Los Angeles. At USC Shoah Foundation, he hopes to acquire a broader knowledge of World War II and the Holocaust and gain experience in the workplace.

“I want to learn how a really great team works together and be part of that and know what that feels like,” he said.

In fact, Goditsch said his appointment at USC Shoah Foundation came as a bit of a surprise, since he was initially assigned to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City but changed his plans due to a scheduling conflict. Now he feels that everything worked out for the best.

“I’m quite happy that everything happened the way it did,” Goditsch said. “I enjoy my work quite a lot.”