Though USC Shoah Foundation runs in 13-year-old Sydney Gordon’s veins – her dad Mark Gordon is a member of its Next Generation Council and her grandmother Ita Gordon has been an indexer and researcher there since the foundation’s inception in 1994 – Sydney admitted she was hesitant to choose it as her bat mitzvah project at first.

Honestly, she said, the subject matter upset her and she didn’t really want to learn about it. But her grandmother’s long history with USC Shoah Foundation and dedication to preserving testimonies of Holocaust and genocide survivors inspired Sydney to learn more.

“She is passionate about USC Shoah Foundation and I knew I owed it her to learn about it and to help support the Foundation,” Sydney said.

Something her teacher said also cemented her desire to face her fears in order to make a difference.

“He gave a presentation on hate speech vs. free speech, and at the end he said something along the lines of, ‘I am aware that this talk may have made some of you feel uncomfortable, but I am very certain that you all learned something today. And I really want you to consider: was the discomfort worth what you learned?’” Sydney said. “This could not apply more to how I chose my project: I feel so fortunate to have been educated on this topic and it was definitely worth being upset or scared. For anybody, this topic is difficult, but it is indeed worth learning about so that it won’t happen again.”

For her bat mitzvah project, Sydney asked her friends and family to donate to USC Shoah Foundation. She said she was very happy with the amount she raised.

Mark first joined the Next Generation Council on USC Shoah Foundation’s Board of Councilors three years ago, but he’s kept up with its work through his mom for 23 years.

“I can remember my mother, who was then an indexer and researcher for the Foundation, showing me in 1994 some of the testimonies she was working to index,” Mark said. “Hearing about the events and experiences from the person who experienced them, with all the emotion and unspoken feeling that comes from hearing a real voice and seeing the expressiveness of a real face and hands, made a tremendous impact on me, and I could see the potential in these testimonies to impact, motivate and educate so many others.”

Sydney also recognizes the potential of testimony to get students like herself excited to learn more and become motivated to be upstanding, active participants in civil society. Even visiting museums does not give her the same connection to historical events as watching a testimony from the Visual History Archive does.

“What connected with me was hearing a woman whose mother had escaped the Holocaust, but whose grandparents did not, and the way she talked about it and the emotions she described,” Sydney said. “But most students don’t have access to survivors. So for anyone who wants to be informed or to understand, watching a testimony is the best way for them to get that experience.”

For the Gordon family, Sydney’s bat mitzvah project and her interest in preserving memory of the Holocaust is just one example of how USC Shoah Foundation will continue to impact future generations.

“Twenty-three years after my first experience with the testimonies, the Visual History Archive is continuing to fulfill its mission,” Mark said. “But that mission is never complete, and so we are thrilled that Sydney is one of the many thousands, and of a new generation, to impacted, motivated and educated by the Visual History Archive.”

Above: Sydney with her parents, Mark and Jocelyn, at her bat mitzvah