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

A story on the CBS This Morning show about the latest in digital moviemaking technology made sure to note that the technology isn’t just for making imaginary creatures and movie stunt doubles – it’s also being used to create fully interactive displays of Holocaust survivors.

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.

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.

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) assisted in the operation of displaced persons installations in Deggendorf, Germany, following World War II. Steffi Aghassi describes the conditions in the Deggendorf displaced persons camp and shares her incredible story as to what she personally did to change the status quo.

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.

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. 

Close and distant readings of the Visual History Archive by Todd Presner, professor of Germanic languages, comparative literature, and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, for the Spring 2014 issue of PastForward.

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:

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:

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.

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.