The initiative will support educators by providing them with tools and training to responsibly engage their students now and into the future.

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 22, 2017 – The violent antisemitic and racist hatred seen in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month combined Nazi ideology with white supremacy and drew from the dark historical legacies of the Holocaust and slavery. This hatred revealed the fissures of a long-standing American cultural and identity crisis that requires long-term strategies to provide safe ways to explore identity and difference.

Another group of talented students has completed their applied math research project as part of UCLA Institute for Applied Mathematics (IPAM)’s Research in Industrial Projects (RIPS) summer program, offering USC Shoah Foundation staff options for improving the functionality of the Visual History Archive

Three graduates of USC Shoah Foundation’s Master Teacher program in Central Europe traveled to Los Angeles this week for additional training to take their use of IWitness and testimony to the next level.

For Board of Councilors Chair Emeritus Robert J. Katz, involvement with USC Shoah Foundation stems not from a direct personal connection, but from an emotional pull he later identified.


USC Shoah Foundation and USC Center for Excellence in Teaching welcome proposals from faculty who will integrate USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive (VHA) and IWitness into a Spring 2018 course.

Margot talks about her friendship with the young son of a diplomat on her voyage from Germany to the United States.

The 2017-2018 Interdisciplinary Research Week at USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research has come to a close, but for the seven scholars who were awarded this year’s fellowship, the work is just beginning.

For the last four years, I have had the incredible opportunity to share the story of USC Shoah Foundation. I joined the communications team in July 2013 to manage the social media accounts for the Institute. I was excited to work at such an esteemed institution that was making a difference in the world.

The grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, Aliza Liberman wonders whether her children will feel as connected to its horrors and lessons as she does. As a member of USC Shoah Foundation’s Next Generation Council, Liberman is doing what she can to ensure future generations feel that bond by supporting the Institute’s mission. From a young age, the Holocaust was part of her life. “The
fact that my grandfather never talked much about his life and his family in Poland always moved me to know more,” Liberman says.

On August 24, 2017, scholars from Latin America presented their initial findings on their use of the Visual History Archive and mapped out potential avenues of inquiry focusing on Holocaust survivors who eventually settled in Latin America. This presentation is one of the outcomes of a "scholar in residence" fellowship that brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to collaborate on a research project at USC for Interdisciplinary Research Week.

Zelizer will use her fellowship to teach a Ph.D. research seminar entitled “Mediating War and Genocide Through Visual Memory.”

Longtime Visual History Archive user Professor Therkel Straede took his use of testimony one step further last semester by giving his students an assignment to construct their own videos in IWitness, with inspiring results.

Hans describes the beginning of the Danish resistance movement to save Jews from the Nazis.

Continuing its partnership with USC Shoah Foundation, The Florida Holocaust Museum (FHM) education staff have authored an IWitness activity introducing students to the challenges faced by Holocaust refugees, titled “Walter Loebenburg: Refugee Experiences During the Holocaust.”

Each week, we will profile a scholar who will present his or her research at the Center for Advanced Genocide Research's upcoming conference Digital Approaches to Genocide Studies, Oct. 23-24, 2017.

This clip describes a dire situation in which the Loebenberg family found themselves while trying to find a safe haven in Cuba. Total strangers decided to help the Loebenbergs.