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.
/ Friday, June 27, 2014
Please join the USC Shoah Foundation for a lecture from the 2014-2015 Rutman Teaching Fellow Harry Reicher.
/ Monday, June 30, 2014
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".
cagr / Monday, June 30, 2014
In the Spring 2014 issue of PastForward, USC Professor of neuroscience Antonio Damasio discusses how personal stories can evoke deep empathy for human tragedy.
pastforward / Monday, June 30, 2014
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.
clip, pastforward, jewish survivor, female, Dina Angress, Anne Frank, future message / Monday, June 30, 2014
 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.
/ Monday, June 30, 2014
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.
rwanda, problems without passports, GAM, op-eds / Monday, June 30, 2014
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.  
iwalk, budapest, museum of the history of polish jews, Andrea Szőnyi / Tuesday, July 1, 2014
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.
/ Wednesday, July 2, 2014
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. 
clip, aid provider, jan karski, warsaw ghetto / Wednesday, July 2, 2014
For the sixth time, the Freie Universität Berlin will offer a free summer course for international and visiting scholars about USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive. This summer, the topic of the course is memories of the Nazis’ forced laborers.
freie universität berlin, vha, visual history archive / Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Despite the current political turmoil in their country, six teachers from Crimea traveled to Kyiv last month for a seminar on oral history and USC Shoah Foundation’s Where Do Human Rights Begin teacher’s guide, led by Ukraine international consultant Anna Lenchovska.
Ukraine, crimea, anna lenchovska, teacher training, human rights education / Thursday, July 3, 2014
Robert Fisch speaks on the importance of standing up to intolerance and the dangers of being a bystander.
clip, jewish survivor, male, future message, robert fisch / Thursday, July 3, 2014
In the Spring 2014 issue of PastForward, Mukesh Kapila discusses the benefits and challenges of collecting testimonies in real time as events are unfolding.
mukesh kapila, pastforward / Monday, July 7, 2014
USC Shoah Foundation’s 2013 Yom Hashoah Scholar in Residence, Marianne Hirsch, says she is looking forward to discussing digital technologies and how to teach future generations about genocide at the Memory, Media and Technology: Exploring the Trajectories of Schindler’s List international conference this November.
/ Tuesday, July 8, 2014
The Problems Without Passports trip to Rwanda ends today after a busy second week that included visits to some of Rwanda’s most stunning nature sites and opportunities for the students to meet politicians and international representatives.
problems without passports, rwanda, kwibuka, edouard bamporiki, amy carnes / Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Jean Sothere Ndamyuwera reflects on life after the genocide in Rwanda and the lessons he learned. He also speaks on the importance of tolerance and forgiveness. Jean’s testimony is featured in the IWitness activity, Information Quest: The Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
clip, rwanda, male, rescuer, aid provider, Jean Sothere Ndamyuwera, future message / Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Eliezer Dowin speaks on the horrible living conditions and the forced labor in the camp of Karwin. Dowin recalls explaining to Czech prisoners that he was interned at the camp not for a crime but just for being Jewish.  
clip, male, jewish survivor, Eliezer Dowin, Karwin, forced labor / Wednesday, July 9, 2014
A forgotten forced labor camp for Jews in Czech Republic has been rediscovered as a result of research conducted in the Visual History Archive by Marcel Mahdal, a graduate of USC Shoah Foundation’s Teaching with Testimony in the 21st Century program.
/ Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Stephen Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation, presented USC Shoah Foundation’s educational work at the 9th annual International Conference on Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem this week.
Stephen Smith, yad vashem, iwitness, echoes and reflections / Thursday, July 10, 2014
Robert Ronald speaks about the establishment on July 10, 1940, of the new regime in Vichy, France with full power being granted to Marshal Philippe Pétain.
clip, jewish survivor, vichy france, robert ronald, male / Thursday, July 10, 2014
After liberation from a forced labor camp in Austria, Alan Brown returned to his home in Budapest, Hungary. Alan speaks about recuperating from typhus and learning about Auschwitz and the gas chambers from other survivors.
clip, male, jewish survivor, Alan Brown, hungary, liberation / Friday, July 11, 2014
Dozens of Echoes and Reflections professional development seminars and workshops will be held across the country over the summer months, providing educators the opportunity to learn about teaching the Holocaust through testimony and the most up-to-date pedagogical strategies.
echoes and reflections / Friday, July 11, 2014
After visiting USC Shoah Foundation for the first time, Alice Petrossian of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is excited to begin a new partnership to promote education about the Armenian Genocide and other atrocities.
/ Friday, July 11, 2014
Gene Klein describes arriving at Auschwitz and seeing his family members for only a few seconds before they were separated for the camp selection process. He recalls that his father was sent straight to the gas chamber because of his white beard.
clip, male, jewish survivor, auschwitz, camp selections, Gene Klein / Monday, July 14, 2014
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has paved the way for better Wi-Fi in schools by modernizing its E-Rate program, the nation’s largest program for supporting communications technology in schools and libraries.
iwitness / Monday, July 14, 2014
With an ambitious slate of visiting scholars, academic events, educational programs and trips to faraway places, the staff of USC Shoah Foundation tends to be a busy lot.In order to share these interesting goings-on with people around the world, the Institute updates its website daily with news stories and profiles of some of the people who pass through its doors.The job to chronicle these events for the outside world falls to one person.
/ Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The 53,000 testimonies in the Visual History Archive from the USC Shoah Foundation tell a complete personal history of life before, during and after the interviewee’s firsthand experience with genocide. These testimonies are an invaluable resource for humanity, as in addition to their experience through some of the darkest chapters of human history; the testimonies also recount happy memories of childhood and successes in life including careers, children and grandchildren. 
testimony, PIQ, Newsweek, Life History, op-eds / Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Steve Kay, dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, believe that the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive holds many keys to unlocking the enigmatic conditions that have led to genocides throughout history.
pastforward, steve kay / Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Six months after it launched, the online guest book has gathered a remarkable collection of messages from people who have been affected by testimony. All are encouraged to sign the guest book until Dec. 31, 2014.
guest book / Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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