USC Shoah Foundation has significantly increased its reach online and in the classroom over the past three years, according to new statistics released about the Institute’s 2016 fiscal year.

In February, eighth grade S. Canton Scholars Academy student Keven Kim came to realization: Compared to others, his life was quite comfortable and convenient. Though Keven appreciated his fortune, he decided to do something to help those who didn’t have the same advantages he did. “All around the world, there are those who live a relaxed life while others struggle to receive a single meal,” he said. “Seeing this struggle through my own eyes, I had decided to inform others of this desperate struggle and how to support those in need.”

USC Shoah Foundation colleagues from around the world met for two days to discuss the progress and next steps of the Visual History Archive Program, which aims to drastically expand access to the Visual History Archive over the next five years.

We are sad to learn of the passing of Helen Colin, a Holocaust survivor who had the distinction of being the first survivor to speak on camera after being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Helen Colin describes the liberation of Bergen Belsen, and how elated she and the other prisoners were to see the British army and receive food rations.

USC Shoah Foundation education staff are once again on the road this week to introduce educators in Texas and Massachusetts to IWitness.

Liberator Morris Marsh, who served as a seargent in the Royal Air Force, says there were far more casualties at the D-Day invasion than was reported to the public, and describes re-enacting the attack for newsreel cameras.

Updates to IWitness in time for the new school year will include a suite of Spanish-language full-length testimonies, testimony clips and activities from USC Shoah Foundation’s new Guatemalan Genocide collection.

Helen Colin's daughter Muriel explains how their family first discovered the interview her mother gave at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Helen says she shares her story so that future generations can learn from it. This is part of the follow-up interview Helen gave to USC Shoah Foundation in June 2016.

Armenian survivor Siranoush Danielan remembers being deported with her family from her home in Marash. Her brother had left previously without them, but they were fortunate to reunite later on when someone recognized their last name at a registry.

There are many Holocaust survivors who wrote after the war about their experiences, but Beatrice Mousli Bennett is focusing her attention on writers who are far less studied: those who continued to write even while they faced occupation, deportations and oppression in the throes of World War II. Bennett is the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research’s 2016 Faculty Summer Research Fellow. The fellowship provides support for a USC faculty member to conduct research in the Visual History Archive while in residence at the Center for one month.

Jewish survivor Lotte Kramer discusses the way her poetry has transformed her outlook on life and the Holocaust. Feeling like an outsider in an unfamiliar environment brought up a lot of memories, which were then turned into poems. Her writing has allowed her to open up about her experiences and given her an outlet to share her stories in a very beautiful way.

After seventh grade teacher Rebekah Lang taught the Holocaust for the first time last year, she wasn’t satisfied with her performance. So, she turned to Echoes and Reflections to improve her and her students’ learning experience the next time around.

USC Shoah Foundation's educational platform, IWitness continues hosting free webinars for educators throughout 2016. These webinars aim to provide a more in-depth and interactive approach to learning how to teach with testimony.

USC Shoah Foundation's educational platform, IWitness continues hosting free webinars for educators throughout 2016. These webinars aim to provide a more in-depth and interactive approach to learning how to teach with testimony.

Listen to Jewish survivors and other eyewitnesses to the Holocaust describe watching the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In preparation for the start of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Nazis in power decided to minimize the presence of antisemitism in the city.

Eric Frisch describes his experience as a runner in the first Olympic torch relay, which spanned from Greece to Germany, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Frisch further recalls meeting Jesse Owens forty years after the games. 

Robert J. Katz, one of USC Shoah Foundation’s most dedicated and long-term supporters, has announced his retirement from USC Shoah Foundation’s Board of Councilors, and that he will remain chair emeritus on the board for the next three years.

Fernand Bybelezer shares his memories of French writer and painter Max Jacob, who he knew when he was a young man.

Ellen Brandt recalls the efforts by the Nazis to hide any evidence of anti-Semitism from the press during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and the intensified anti-Semitism that came after the games. 

Endre Altmann recalls his experience as a member of the Romanian Olympic fencing team and explains his decision not to participate in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 

USC Shoah Foundation will kick off its 2016-17 school year education for Detroit-area teachers with an ITeach Seminar the weekend of August 15, followed by 12 more IWitness Detroit professional development seminars held through April of 2017.

Holocaust survivor Judith Ertsey talks about how she has been treated as an immigrant and a Jew in America, as well as attitudes toward other minority groups.

The staff of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research had a dilemma on their hands. They could only choose one applicant to award the 2016 Graduate Summer Research Fellowship – but they couldn’t bring themselves to turn away their runner-up, Piotr Florczyk, because his proposal was so fascinating. It’s easy to see why. Florczyk, a PhD candidate in the USC Literature and Creative Writing program, intends to write poetry inspired by the testimonies of Polish Holocaust survivors in the archive.

Faculty at universities around the world have three more weeks to apply for two fellowships at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

Jack Bernstein remembers his experience waiting with excitement for liberation soldiers in France in August 1945, and the confusion and frenzy that surrounded their arrival.

Discover the testimonies of Holocaust survivors who share memories of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which is commemorating its 80th anniversary this week as the 2016 Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro.