The Junior Intern Program at USC Shoah Foundation is entering its second year and looking for young people who are passionate about human rights and tolerance to be part of it.

IWitness regional consultant, Brandon Barr has been a Language Arts teacher in Chicago Public School district for the last ten years. This year, he will be teaching 6th grade Language Arts at Mark Twain Elementary. In January 2015, he participated in the "Past is Present" commemoration that marked the 70th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz in Poland.

As I start a new school year in a new school teaching a new grade level, I find it slightly ironic that the first theme that my textbook series addresses is courage. As I start another school year, I have thought deeply about courage and mix of emotions that come into play that very first day of school. Many may not readily admit it, but the first day of the school year for both teachers and students is filled nervousness and unease. A first impression is extremely important, and a good first day can set the tone for a very productive school year.

Seeing new students starting their fall semester at USC – my recent alma mater – gives me a strange feeling. I have worked at USC Shoah Foundation during most of my career as an USC undergraduate student, and now I am about to step away from my favorite university and nonprofit organization. I’ve learned invaluable life lessons from video testimony as well as my wonderful coworkers.

Professor Alejandro Baer, now from the University of Minnesota, was first attracted to USC Shoah Foundation in 2000, when it was titled Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and was deep into its project to collect 50,000 testimonies of Holocaust survivors around the world.

A Modern Germany history course taught by Longwood University Professor Melissa Kravetz received an honorable mention for “Interesting Assignment” from the H-German online network for its IWitness-based final assignment.

Kurt Moses reflects on the issue of hate and returning to Germany with his family after the war. Although it was difficult to speak to Germans from his generation, he remembers feeling more comfortable speaking and interacting with the German youth at the time.

Eugene Zinn sings a song that he and other prisoners made up about Auschwitz while they were imprisoned in the camp.

Corey Harbaugh is Director of Teaching & Learning at Fennville Public Schools, a community in rural Southwest Lower Michigan.

Steven Spielberg will present William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, with USC Shoah Foundation’s highest honor — the Ambassador for Humanity Award –– at the organization’s annual gala.

Los Angeles, Sept. 3, 2015 – On Sept. 10, 2015, Steven Spielberg will present William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, with USC Shoah Foundation’s highest honor — the Ambassador for Humanity Award –– at the organization’s annual gala. Ford will be recognized for his leadership and corporate citizenry around education and community.

When Tiffany Taylor, director of Teach for America – Detroit, first received an email inviting her to join the advisory board for USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Detroit program, she admits it was the first time she had heard of IWitness.But one line in the email caught her eye: “testimony-based education.” Taylor said she was intrigued by this idea and thought immediately about its potential for strengthening the educational movement in Detroit by uplifting student voices in a way that only firsthand experiences can.

Los Angeles, Sept. 3, 2015 – On Sept. 10, 2015, Steven Spielberg will present William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, with USC Shoah Foundation’s highest honor — the Ambassador for Humanity Award –– at the organization’s annual gala. Ford will be recognized for his leadership and corporate citizenry around education and community.

Eva Adams fondly remembers the important role that music played in her daily life growing up in Budapest, Hungary before the war.. 

Sara Shapiro reflects on the hardships of daily life in the ghetto and later on about surviving with very little food and water while hiding with her mother in a barn.

Mark Webber reflects on life after the Holocaust and meeting his wife Ruth Webber, a survivor of Auschwitz. Then both Mark and Ruth describe their proudest achievement raising, their children in Detroit, Michigan.

Ibolya (Szalai) Grossman remembers being mistreated by neighborhood friends and acquaintances on the day she and and her infant were deported to the Budapest Ghetto.

Paula Lebovics describes her family's desperate search for visas to emigrate from Germany after the war. She remembers being surprised at how easily she acquired an American visa and was able to begin a new life in Detroit, Michigan.

Virtually everyone has listened to a popular song with its lyrics changed for comedic or dramatic effect. But a perhaps little-known fact of the Holocaust is that this type of parody was also a common practice in some of the most hellish places on Earth: concentration camps.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has constructed a new IWitness activity in conjunction with the museum’s Some Were Neighbors exhibit.

A team of eight staff members from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Levine Institute for Holocaust Education is responsible for bringing the Some Were Neighbors IWitness activity to life.

Attendees of the 2015 Ambassadors for Humanity gala in Detroit on Thursday will get to hear remarks from a Michigan educator who is one of USC Shoah Foundation’s most passionate colleagues.

After leaving her hometown in Poland to escape Nazi persecution, Ruth remembers observing an atypical Rosh Hashanah in the synagogue of a small Polish town.

It was Ford Motor Company Executive Director William Clay Ford Jr.’s commitment to education and his devotion to the Detroit community that prompted USC Shoah Foundation to honor him with this year’s Ambassador for Humanity Award.

Anita remembers the incredibly difficult period she spent as a displaced person after being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen camp. 

Jeannie Woods is a seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher at Fort Payne Middle School in Fort Payne, Alabama. Woods was one of the 25 educators who participated in the Auschwitz: The Past is Present professional development program in January 2015.

Educators have two opportunities to learn about IWitness along with fellow teachers over the next two weeks: a webinar and first-ever Twitter chat.

Kurt Messerschmidt remembers the role of bystanders and explains the importance of standing up to injustice.

While guests of the 2015 Ambassadors for Humanity Gala on Sept. 10 trickled into the Henry Ford Museum and enjoyed a cocktail reception before dinner began, a small group of high school students was hard at work.