Dorin Cohen hid with her husband and two small children in their safe room in Kibbutz Kfar Aza as the Israeli army battled terrorists inside her home. The family was rescued by the Israeli military, who were shocked that anyone had survived the assault and destruction that hit the home.

Ruth Crane survived two ghettos and five concentration camps. Here, she describes how watching her father pray and her mother light Shabbat candles in their home in pre-war Siemianowice, Poland, brought her comfort and peace throughout her life.

Hannah Kaye was at the Chabad of Poway with her parents on Passover in 2019 when an antisemitic gunman entered. Hannah’s mother, Lori Gilbert Kaye, was killed. In this clip, Hannah remembers the sounds and smell of the shooting, and wondering, “where is my mom?”

In the face of the current alarming resurgence in antisemitism, we are expanding our efforts to record testimonies from those who have experienced anti-Jewish hate since 1945 – including those who are experiencing it today. Along with our collection of 55,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies, these new testimonies will be an invaluable resource to researchers, educators, and policymakers in the urgent effort to mitigate the deadly threat of antisemitism to Jewish and non-Jewish communities around the world today.

In 2016, at the age of 25, activist and social entrepreneur Erin Schrode made headlines as she ran for Congress to represent Marin County in Northern California. During the campaign and after, she was targeted by one of North America’s leading neo-Nazis with relentless antisemitic doxing.

Joe Samuels survived the 1941 Farhud, a Nazi-inspired pogrom in Baghdad. With antisemitic restrictions and violence increasing in Iraq with the establishment of the state of Israel, he and his younger brother were smuggled out of Baghdad in 1949. Here, he reflects on the power of accepting one’s destiny.

Rabbi Isaac Levy served as senior Jewish chaplain in the British army, and participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In this clip, he describes how on a trip to Berlin in 1945, he tried to help Jewish survivors contact relatives around the world.

   

With anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence on the rise around the world, the USC Shoah Foundation this fall launches the Daniel and Marisa Klass USC Shoah Foundation Lecture Series, focusing this year on Antisemitism where leading scholars will guide audiences through the latest research and explore a diversity of approaches to understanding and combating the current upsurge.

USC Shoah Foundation is dedicated to making audio-visual interviews with witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides a compelling voice for education and action. The Institute currently has over 57,466 testimonies recorded in 45 languages in 70 countries that allow us to see the faces and hear the voices of those who witnessed history, allowing them to teach, to memorialize, and to inspire.

Yehuda Bauer (z”l) was much more than his many well-deserved titles, including (but not limited to) Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, and Honorary Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. He was also a friend and mentor.

New York, NY (October 14, 2024) —Nearly 700 guests convened for an unforgettable evening of celebration and inspiration at the USC Shoah Foundation’s Ambassadors for Humanity Gala. This milestone event marked the Foundation's 30th anniversary, honoring the resilience of Holocaust survivors while emphasizing the critical importance of preserving their testimonies for future generations.