After completing an intense two-week introductory session at the University of Southern California, seven students and two professors are ready to begin this summer’s Problems Without Passports trip to Rwanda.

Rose Burizhiza speaks on the discrimination she faced in school before the genocide began in Rwanda. Rose’s testimony is featured in the IWitness activity, Information Quest: The Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

High school students from Sopron, Hungary, have created a traveling exhibition to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the deportations of Jews from Hungary during World War II, drawing from USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive for their research.

Gerda Abraham describes being a refugee and living in a displaced persons camp in Algeria.

June 20 is World Refugee Day, dedicated to raising awareness about refugees throughout the world, a day on which I inevitably always look back on the formative years of my life. In 1991, my family and I were forced out of our home in Croatia because of our ethnic origin, and we began a life of exile, torn from everything known and dear to us and forced to swim in the uncharted waters of life as a refugee. Our lives had been changed drastically; a life of abundance had become a life of misery. 

Hana Pravda speaks on the various performances, art and culture that were produced in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto. Pravda, an actress, performed in many plays, in which the scripts were smuggled into the ghetto.

In January 2014, four scholars from the “Holocaust Geographies Collaborative”—an international, interdisciplinary group of researchers evaluated the link between personal testimony, the index of the archive and geography.

Daniel Hrbrek is the director and manager of Švandovo Theatre, pedagogue of acting, direction on DAMU Academy in Prague. Hrbrek has been involved in theater for over twenty years including acting and artistic director for companies and theaters. In 1999 he became the Artistic Director of Švandovo Theatre, one of the oldest Prague theatres (established in 1881). Besides his directing work he also writes stage adaptations and his own plays including Shoah, which the english adapation titled The Good and the True, will open off-Broadway for an eight-week limited engagement.

I was born and brought up in a university town in the Czech Republic called Olomouc. It had a small Jewish community.   My father is a writer and academic.  Five years ago he interviewed Milos Dobry who was a prominent member of the Olomouc Jewish community and a long-term Holocaust survivor.  His story was fascinating - about how he and his brother had survived Terezín and Auschwitz and how Milos had gone on to have a successful career as an inventor and sports personality.  I went to meet Milos Dobry personally to further interview him about his history.

Judith Agular describes anti-Jewish restrictions including being forced to live in a “Yellow-star House,” in Budapest, Hungary.

Jeffrey Shandler, a Visual History Archive researcher and former Institute Fellow at the USC Shoah Foundation, will return to USC this November to participate in the Memory, Media and Technology: Exploring the Trajectories of Schindler’s List international conference.

USC Trustee Andrew Viterbi PhD ’62 and his wife, Erna, have given $5 million to USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. It is the largest gift the Institute has received since it became part of USC in 2006.

International ConferenceUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUSC Radisson Conference RoomsSecond Floor, Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Midtown at USC3540 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Emmanuel Muhinda describes the persecution of Tutsi and anti-Tutsi propaganda he witnessed before the genocide started in April 1994. His testimony is featured in the IWitness activity, Information Quest: The Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The Problems Without Passports class hit the ground running in Kigali, Rwanda, spending their first four days in the country visiting genocide memorials and meeting with survivor support groups.

Echoes and Reflections, the multimedia Holocaust education program of which USC Shoah Foundation is a founding partner, introduced a brand-new website and updated teacher’s guide that includes new content and reflects the most current pedagogy for teaching about the Holocaust.

Henry Laurant remembers the first time he experienced antisemitism in Nazi Germany. He was targeted by other children who were influenced by Nazi rhetoric. His testimony is featured in the multimedia professional development program, Echoes and Reflections.

Summary: 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:

Educators attending the International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE) Conference and Expo this weekend will explore IWitness at an interactive “playground” – a showcase awarded to select educational resources.

Jenna Leventhal was first introduced to the USC Shoah Foundation as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, working on a project for a public history course. Now, as manager of IWitness, she says her journey from student to Shoah Foundation education staff has come full circle.

Please join the USC Shoah Foundation for a lecture from the 2014-2015 Rutman Teaching Fellow Harry Reicher.

Doheny Memorial Library Room G 24, Herklotz RoomPlease join the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research for a lecture by Simone Gigliotti.The topic of the lecture will be "A Mobile Holocaust: Testimony and the spatial turn".

In the Spring 2014 issue of PastForward, USC Professor of neuroscience Antonio Damasio discusses how personal stories can evoke deep empathy for human tragedy.

Dina Angress knew Anne Frank as a shy and quiet schoolmate in Amsterdam. Even though they weren’t close friends, she speaks on how Anne Frank’s diary was so relatable to her own story. Dina also relates on the importance of tolerance and Holocaust education.

 Jonathan Stoller-Schoff is a junior at USC majoring in International Relations and Theatre, and minoring in Cinematic Arts. In addition to being an intern at the USC Shoah Foundation, Jonathan is also involved in many student organizations on campus, including STAND, Brand New Theatre and Cardinal Theatre Productions.

As an intern at the USC Shoah Foundation and a student on the Problems Without Passports trip to Rwanda this summer, I’m more than familiar with the phrases “Never Forget” and “Never Again.” Sometimes the two seem like tired mottos. They’re valid and true, but oftentimes I think I miss the full impact of those few words.

Hungarian ethics teachers and Polish educators were introduced this spring to IWalk, USC Shoah Foundation’s educational program that combines testimony with real-life locations, and are interested in incorporating it into their teaching.  

Ukraine has recently made headlines for its ongoing conflict with Russia, but Anna Lenchovska has helped bring human rights educational resources to the country for nearly 10 years as USC Shoah Foundation’s Ukrainian consultant.

Jan Karski speaks on being smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto to report on the horrible conditions and the destruction of Polish Jewry. He also recalls how he recently met, just months prior to his interview, a very successful business man, who as a child followed Karski around in the ghetto.