Ever wonder what date USC Shoah Foundation held its first teacher-training workshop, or who was the first recipient of the Ambassadors for Humanity award? Have you ever wanted to know all of the Institute’s major accomplishments in a given year since its founding in 1994?

Cornelia Aaron Swaab says she wanted to give her testimony to USC Shoah Foundation in the hope that by sharing her own experiences with the world, she can do her part to prevent future genocides.

Cila talks about how incredibly generous her mother was to many people, and how she used to send various gifts to poor families to help them celebrate Shabbat.

Jerome Nemer Lecture & Film Documentary Flyer.pdf

If you’ve ever watched genocide survivor testimony from the Visual History Archive and it spurred you to wonder what you can do to help prevent acts of intolerance and inhumanity, USC Shoah Foundation has an opportunity for you this holiday season.

Haroutune Ayvazian remembers an act from a Turkish man helped saved him and his family.  

Chava Ben-Amos talks about the education she received in Auschwitz thanks to Fredy Hirsch, an advocate for children in the camps. She remembers various teachers who taught the children poetry, music, movie-making and many other subjects that impacted her life.

Educators looking for strategies and best practices for teaching using testimonies from the Visual History Archive can refer to a new guide published on the IWitness website.

The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research invites applications from senior scholars for its 2016-2017 Center Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides $30,000 support and will be awarded to an outstanding senior scholar from any discipline who will advance genocide research through the use of the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive and other USC resources.

Tana Basa talks about her pride in her Jewish identity, and how she believes her children are lucky to grow up Jewish and Catholic.

USC Shoah Foundation executive staff, supporters and partners met in China this week for the 2015 USC Global Conference, where they shared the Institute’s mission and newest projects with an international audience.

During the weekend of October 10-11, the University of Southern California gathered international academics, musicians and members of the Los Angeles community for a symposium and series of events, collectively called Singing in the Lion’s Mouth: Music as Resistance to Genocide. Hosted by Professor Wolf Gruner of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, and Professor Nick Strimple of the USC Thornton School of Music, the symposium, film screening and concert were also sponsored by USC’s Vision and Voices arts and humanities initiative. The following paragraphs are a reflection on the individual events that made up the weekend, and an exploration into the larger ideas raised in discussions over the course of the weekend.

The IFFF Humanitarian Award is bestowed on a person, organization or film that consistently demonstrates the highest level of integrity, concern and compassion for human welfare with an abiding respect for the family bond. This year’s IFFF Humanitarian Award is presented to Mr. Eric Kabera and the film, INTORE. This powerful and touching documentary shares a story of Rwandan hope, survival and forgiveness.

Members of the USC Shoah Foundation Board of Councilors got creative during the annual board meeting in New York, Oct. 14-15.

Survivor Irene Adler reads a poem she wrote in the 1960s called "The Yellow Star," about her experiences during the Holocaust.

In this documentary, Peter Logue explores the legacy that was left behind by the members of the White Rose after they were executed at the hands of the Gestapo. Through extensive interviews with scholars and conversations with current University of Munich students, Logue asks us all to consider what we can learn from the White Rose today and, most importantly, "what would you have done?"

About a year after I joined USC Shoah Foundation, I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre’s Holocaust Education Week in Toronto. The theme that year was about memory and they had graciously invited me, the new Director of Education, to discuss memory in the context of the Institute’s education platform IWitness and testimony-based education.

Mahima Verma is a sophomore at USC studying Journalism and History. She shares how testimony is inspiring her work as an intern at the Institute.

Marina Kay is senior at USC studying at International Relations and president of USC Shoah Foundation's student organization, Defy. She shares how testimony now plays an integral part of her life in and outside of the university.

Dan-Morgan Russell is a senior at USC studying International Relations. Testimony inspires Dan to educate others and inspire policy to help those affected by atrocities.

Neuroscientist Glenn Fox is a researcher at USC Brain and Creativity Institute and used testimony from the Visual History Archive to study the affects of gratitude in the brain.

Cornell marked the launch Wed., Nov. 3 with a public lecture by New Yorker columnist and Rwandan Genocide expert Philip Gourevitch.

Interviewer: Mr. Laks, what are your activities nowadays?

Peter Komor says the best defense against future genocides is education. He and his granddaughter are both graduates of Cornell University, the 52nd full access site of the Visual History Archive.

Al talks about what the Holocaust taught him, including the value of freedom, having the right perspective on life, taking action and making decisions in your life, and keeping families together.

Kátia Lerner worked as interviewer and Regional Assistant Coordinator for USC Shoah Foundation in Rio de Janeiro from 1996 to 1999. After that period, she continued her work as liaison until 2012. Katia received an MA in Social Communication and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, both at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Her thesis analyzes the process of shaping the memory of the Holocaust taking as object of study the then called Survivors of the Holocaust Visual History Foundation (from 1994 to 2001).

In December 1995, USC Shoah Foundation, then called, Survivors of the Shoah Foundation, held a training session for interviewers in Buenos Aires; bringing together people from different countries of Latin America. The Foundation had just started to collect the survivors’ testimonies throughout the world and was about to start recording testimonies in Brazil.

The roundtable discussions and panels helped lay the framework for UNESCO to develop digital educational resources and a teacher’s guide.