Mihran Andonian is describing an experience that was common during the Armenian Genocide. Some Armenian mothers, certain that they would not survive the death marches into the desert, let their children be taken by Muslims (Turks, Arabs, Kurds), hoping to guarantee survival. Other Armenian mothers on the caravans died while still with their children leaving these orphans to fend for themselves. Indeed, thousands of Armenian children were left homeless by the end of World War I and were either taken in by locals or rounded up by missionaries and brought to orphanages.

‘Dimensions in Testimony Education’ is the first version of the groundbreaking technology available for instruction in classrooms around the world. Teachers and students can ask questions that prompt real-time response from a pre-recorded video of Pinchas—engaging in virtual conversation and redefining inquiry-based education.

My mom always told me, no matter how good you get at sports, no matter how well you do at anything, people will always remember you for your character. And I truthfully feel that way with anyone I interact with. She calls it a big heart.

Join guest of honor, Rwandan Ambassador to the USA, Mathilde Mukantabana for a commemoration with featured speakers.

Join Dr. Marcy Gringlas, Secretary General Hannah Lessing, Marilyn Sinclair & Viviane Teitelbaum as they discuss the historical trajectory of antisemitism from past to present with a look to the future.

Join Dr. Kori Street as she shares how USC Shoah Foundation is using new technologies to tell the stories of survivors and to keep Holocaust memory alive.

Join Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Dr. Stephen Smith in a conversation with psychologist, author, writer and Holocaust survivor Dr. Ruth Westheimer

The Memory Generation is a new podcast by USC Shoah Foundation's Storyteller-in-Residence Rachael Cerrotti. In this series, Rachael hosts conversations about the inheritance of memory and intergenerational storytelling. The first season is now streaming. 

“Speaking About Sexuality: Male Jewish Intimacy and Agency in Oral History Interviews” Florian Zabransky (PhD candidate at the Weidenfeld Institute–Centre for German-Jewish Studies at University of Sussex, UK) 2020-2021 Margee and Douglas Greenberg Research Fellow April 6, 2021

10:00 AM PDT/ 1:00 PM EDT/ 3:00 AM AEST (+1)  Join USC Shoah Foundation Finci-Viterbi Executive Director, Stephen Smith as he speaks about his experiences leading to the founding of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in England. 

“Research With Testimonies: Featuring the Center's 2020 Lev Student Research Fellows” Lucy Sun (USC undergraduate student, History major) and Rachel Zaretsky (MFA candidate in Art, USC Roski School of Art and Design) 2020 Beth and Arthur Lev Student Research Fellows April 14, 2021

This week, more than 20,000 people will attend Liberation 75, a virtual, global gathering for Holocaust survivors, their descendants, scholars, educators, and the wider community. The online conference, taking place May 4 to 9, is cosponsored by more than 200 organizations, including USC Shoah Foundation.

USC Shoah Foundation recently launched the Visual History Archive at Harvard University, establishing a powerful bridge from coast to coast, including a vibrant and timely panel discussion examining hate and disinformation in public discourse and concrete pathways to address the problems we face.

Under an assumed identity, Joseph André Scheinmann ran a French Resistance network of 300 agents that funneled information to the British. After his arrest and internment, he continued his scheming to save the lives of 100s of fellow prisoners.

Phil Scheinman didn’t know he had close relatives who survived the Holocaust until he saw the testimony of André Scheinmann, a cousin he calls the “Jewish James Bond”. Phil created a movie that brought together 400 family members — many of them newly discovered — to learn how André ran a network of 300 agents for the French Resistance and, even after he was sent to concentration camp, helped save dozens of lives.

USC Shoah Foundation partner and celebrated pianist Mona Golabek is scheduled to bring her livestreamed theatrical performance and concert to students and educators in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut at two signature events later this month.

3:00 PM PDT/6:00PM EDT/8:00 AM AEST (+1)  Over the past year, budding bakers sought refuge and comfort in their kitchens, learning to bake bread. Loaves of sourdough and challah forged connections between families and cultures when we could not physically be together. These connections build on deep traditions in cultures around the world, often discussed in USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive of 55,000 testimonies of genocide survivors and witnesses.   

Hela Goldstein’s testimony given to the British Film and Photographic Unit on April 24, 1945 is believed to be the first-ever audio-visual testimony given by a Holocaust survivor. As a 22-year old victim, she spoke from Bergen-Belsen, the Nazi concentration camp where she was imprisoned upon liberation. Standing at the foot of a mass grave with her killers before her, Hela recounted what she experienced. By telling her story in the face of death, she became a foremother of testimony.

USC Shoah Foundation has added 132 testimonies to its Visual History Archive. These firsthand accounts of mass atrocities spanning more than 100 years are now available to researchers, educators, family members, and the public.

Join author Judy Batalion, in conversation with Nancy Spielberg, to learn more about Batalion's new book The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos.

The Academy Award®-winning feature documentary film shares the remarkable stories of five people ­– a grandmother, a teacher, a businessman, an artist, and a U.S. congressman – as they return from the United States to their hometowns and to the ghettos and concentration camps that once imprisoned them. The film is currently available on Netflix and Blu-ray.

This Zoom mini-conference will feature brief talks on women rescuers and resisters in daily life, in ghettos and forests, and in camps, including women professionals, partisans and women in other genocides.

A distinguished voice of history has been lost today in the passing of Auschwitz survivor Roman Kent, who captured the agony of the Holocaust and the power of love in his telling of a simple story about his childhood dog, Lala. Kent was 92.

With an opening message from Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Stephen Smith, musicologist Francesco Lotoro and actor and playwright Ali Viterbi discuss Jewish composers of World War II.

USC Shoah Foundation’s Next Generation Council invites you to revisit the Academy Award®-winning documentary film The Last Days in conjunction with the 2021 remaster and debut on Blu-ray and Netflix.

In this excerpt from his interview for the Testimony on Location project, Holocaust survivor Ed Mosberg explains why it is important for him to record his testimony for future generations.