Laya Albert, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, is a journalism student at USC's Annenberg School and an active contributor to Annenberg Media. She is the Celina Biniaz Student Intern at the USC Shoah Foundation.

Shaul Ladany was 8 years old when he was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He recalls suffering from starvation and seeing a tomato plant growing just out of reach.

USC Shoah Foundation Managing Director Kim Simon and Director of Education Kori Street are in Bucharest, Romania, this week at the bi-annual plenary meeting of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

Shaul Ladany, an 88-year-old world-record holding speed-walker, has defied death multiple times. As a small child, he survived the German occupation of Budapest and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Then, representing Israel in the 1972 Munich Olympics, he narrowly escaped the massacre that took the lives of 11 Israeli athletes.

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Robert Widerman Clary was among the first 100 Holocaust survivors interviewed for USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive, and he conducted 75 interviews of other survivors. In his testimony, he talks about his instinct and talent for entertaining—honed while he was a child in Paris—saved and shaped his life.

For years, Celina Biniaz, one of the youngest people saved by Oskar Schindler, did not tell anyone – not even her children – that she was a Holocaust survivor. She feared no one could comprehend what she had been through, and she didn’t want to impose the trauma of her childhood upon her son and daughter. Celina’s reluctance to speak ended in 1994. That year, director Steven Spielberg brought Oskar Schindler’s story to the screen with Schindler’s List. He established Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which later became the USC Shoah Foundation.

USC Shoah Foundation is dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides a compelling voice for education and action. The Institute currently has over 56,669 testimonies recorded in 45 languages in 65 countries that allow us to see the faces and hear the voices of those who witnessed history, allowing them to teach, to memorialize, and to inspire.

Join us on April 15 at the Institute of Armenian Studies for an academic lecture on the Armenian Genocide and its related USC holdings by Institute Project Manager Manuk Avedikyan.

Will Horowitz provides external relations for the USC Shoah Foundation. Will received his bachelor’s degree in political science and his master’s degree in public administration and policy from American University. He previously worked at the Government Accountability Office, Amgen, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington Legislative Office before starting at USC Shoah Foundation in 2023.

Shana Fishman is a grant writer on the constituent affairs team responsible for composing grant proposals to support existing and planned program activities. Before joining USC Shoah Foundation, Shana was Director of Development and Operations at Gindi Maimonides Academy and recently earned a master's from Pepperdine University in Social Entrepreneurship and Change.  

Aegis Trust Rwanda, The Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace, Radio La Benevolencija and USC Shoah Foundation - the Institute for Visual History and Education are joining forces to launch a peace-building and education program in Rwanda.

The Division of Academic Programs at the USC Shoah Foundation invites applications for its inaugural Azrieli Research Fellowships for PhD candidates and early-career scholars during the spring 2025 semester.

The Armenian Genocide testimony collections include several categories of individuals linked directly or indirectly to the calamity. The vast majority are Armenian Genocide survivors, while others are Armenian descendants (second and third generation), scholars, rescuers and aid providers, foreign witnesses, and Yezidi survivors, as well as Arab and Greek eyewitnesses. The interviews were recorded in 10 languages in 13 countries.

During the month of April, as we observe commemoration days for four genocides, we take the opportunity to raise awareness about all genocides, including those being perpetrated today. April is an opportunity for those committed to history and remembrance to alert others to the moral and physical dangers of denying the past and of ignoring atrocities occurring in our own times. Access events, educational resources, and other opportunities to commemorate the victims of genocide.

On April 21, the Pasadena Armenian Coalition will host a community-wide event at the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument to commemorate the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The event will pay tribute to the enduring strength and resiliency of the survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, while honoring the memory of the more than 1.5 Million victims who lost their lives 109 years ago. The event will feature survivor testimonies from the Visual History Archive, followed by the keynote speaker, Sedda Antekelian, USC Shoah Foundation Senior Learning and Development Specialist, as well as remarks from Congresswoman Judy Chu. Students from local Armenian schools will recite poems and songs to conclude the event.