For Johanna Söderholm, an English professor at Vaasa University and Abo Akademi University in Finland, there was no better time than now to go to Poland and participate in the Auschwitz: The Past is Present professional development program.

“My father is Jewish.  My mother is Jewish. And I am Jewish.”  Those were the words I kept repeating to myself as I boarded my flight from JFK to attend the 70th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith will speak at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center’s Armenian Genocide symposium this Sunday, Feb. 8.

For Jared McBride, the 2014-2015 Margee and Douglas Greenberg Fellow, using multimedia techniques in his research not only helps him form more detailed historical narratives of what happened on the ground during the Holocaust, it also helps him reach more people today about the importance of understanding this major historical event.

Rose Schindler remembers the restriction on Jewish people including travel restrictions, property seizures, curfews and even the roundups of Jewish men for forced labor in her hometown in Czechoslovakia.

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

As part of USC Shoah Foundation's commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, IWitness has just published three new Information Quest activities featuring child survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau—Paula Lebovics, Eva Slonim, and Eva Kor.

Kathy Leventhal is the founding publisher of Allure Magazine and former publisher of Vanity Fair Magazine. Kathy serves on the board of The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and is an active volunteer in the USC New York Advancement office. 

Eva Slonim describes life in the experimental barracks where she and other children were imprisoned in Auschwitz. She recalls how all the children would share memories of family and dream of their homes. This testimony clip is featured in the new IWitness activity Information Quest: Eva Slonim.

Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Warsaw and Krakow with USC Shoah Foundation’s mission to Poland for the Auschwitz: Past is Present program, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I had many unforgettable experiences throughout these four days traveling and meeting incredible people who are all interested in the work of USC Shoah Foundation and its mission of changing the world through testimony.

UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies will host Wolf Gruner and other Holocaust and genocide scholars in a panel discussion Thurs., Feb. 12.

Teachers gathered at Kigali Genocide Memorial for a workshop organized by the USC Shoah Foundation and Aegis Trust IWitness in Rwanda team as part of the Rwandan Peace Education Program (RPEP).

Marcel Rutagarama describes how he was nearly buried alive after being severely injured and escaped from his perpetrators during the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi Genocide.

Vicki Kessler’s students watch testimonies in IWitness to practice their French, and to enhance their study of the Holocaust and genocide.

I expected to feel an intimate and profound connection to Auschwitz after touring the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for the first time late last month. After three consecutive days visiting and working at the museum, I was indeed moved. But the insight I was hoping for came from beyond the well-worn paths of tourists, from a source that hits close to home here at USC Shoah Foundation.

Kurt Messerschmidt is one of the most recognizable faces on IWitness, and his Information Quest allows students to learn more about his life and how he survived the Holocaust.

Shortly after triggering World War II with its 1939 invasion of Poland, Nazi Germany set about repurposing a system of immigrant barracks in the city of Oświęcim to house political prisoners. Renamed Auschwitz, the facility would become the most notorious killing factory in human history. Tracing this tragic trajectory is the 15-minute documentary “Auschwitz.”

Kurt Messerschmidt describes the aftermath and fear after the Kristallnacht Pogrom - an organized pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria that occurred on November 9–10, 1938. Kristallnacht is also known as the November Pogrom, "Night of Broken Glass," and "Crystal Night." This testimony clip is featured in the IWitness activity, Information Quest: Kurt Messerschmidt.

Students are asked to engage with primary and secondary sources and construct a short video essay on the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism.

Seventeen countries, 28 states and 122 cities later, the USC Shoah Foundation 20th Anniversary Guest Book is officially closed.

Peter Braunfeld recounts experiencing anti-Semitism as a child in Vienna after Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany.  This testimony clip is featured in the new IWitness activity, A thing of the Past? Anti-Semitism Past and Present.

USC students have until March 16, 2015 to enter this year’s Student Voices Short Film Contest.

Xia Shuqin recalls the Nanjing massacre on Dec. 13, 1937 and how she hid from Japanese soldiers during the invasion.

Hema Panesar has just joined the USC Shoah Foundation education team as coordinator of educational programs, bringing experience in digital education, museums and history.Panesar received her bachelor’s degree in history from UC Berkeley and master’s in museum studies from New York University. Her master’s thesis was titled “Digitize Me: Museum Educators and Their Digital Oriented Visitors,” and it focused on how museum visitors are becoming more central to the museum experience, particularly digitally and online.

April's visit is canceled. For the next scheduled visit click here Free and open to the public, monthly Institute visits give guests a chance to explore the life stories of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides and to discover how their memories are being used to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry.Description:

Three weeks ago, USC Shoah Foundation gathered in Poland to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. And just last week, staff from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews returned the favor.

Andrzej Siemiatkowski speaks in Polish about the medical experiements and forced labor he experienced in the Auschwitz camp complex.

USC Shoah Foundation is saddened to learn of the passing of Erna Viterbi, philanthropist and longtime supporter of USC Shoah Foundation.Erna Finci Viterbi, a descendant of Sephardic Jews, was born in Sarajevo but fled Yugoslavia with her family during World War II. They were deported to the Parma region of Italy and interned in the village Gramignazzo di Sissa, but were saved from deportation to the extermination camps by the townspeople. Erna and her family were able to escape to Switzerland for the rest of the war. In 1950, they moved to California.