USC Shoah Foundation mourns the loss of William (“Bill”) Harvey, a friend of the institute who survived two Nazi concentration camps and later became a well-known cosmetologist with a client list that included Judy Garland, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and a young Liza Minnelli. Bill recently passed away in Los Angeles at age 97.

Born on May 20, 1924, in Berehovo, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine), Bill was the youngest of two boys and four girls. His father, Aron, a veteran of World War I, was a winemaker, and his mother Zali was a dressmaker.

Above: Gerda Weissmann Klein with her granddaughter Alysa Cooper

USC Shoah Foundation mourns the loss of Holocaust survivor and Institute friend Gerda Weissmann Klein, who passed away on April 3, 2022. She was 97.

Leadership Workshop - Action and Values, presented by USC Shoah Foundation's William P. Lauder Junior Internship Program, provides a dynamic and unique opportunity for students to engage with testimonies – personal stories – from survivors and witnesses of genocide to develop a stronger sense of self and voice.

Kurt describes liberating survivors of a death march in May 1945, in Volary, Czechoslovakia, including his first encounter with his future wife, Gerda. Kurt Klein was born July 2, 1920, in Walldorf, Germany. As the Nazi persecution of German Jews intensified, Kurt’s parents decided to send him and his siblings to live with distant relatives in Buffalo, New York, where he worked in various jobs, including the printing business, trying to raise enough money to bring his parents to the United States. Kurt was drafted into the United States Army in 1943.

USC Shoah Foundation will be leading the following sessions during the Liberation75 Student Day Program. This is an excellent opportunity for students to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah):

Learning with Testimony & Film: Love is Stronger Than Hate
Time (Eastern Daylight Time): 2:00-2:45pm (11:00 - 11:45 Pacific)
Students of Grades: 4-6