Thousands of people came to Times Square on Sunday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and to demand the U.S. government recognize the slaughter of 1.5 million people as genocide. In a speech at the event, USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith said that the world must stand together speak for those who are not here to speak for themselves.

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.

Los Angeles - July 28, 2015 - USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education has joined forces with La Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG), a Guatemalan forensics organization, to collect video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Guatemalan Genocide, which killed some 200,000 civilians in the early 1980s, mainly indigenous Mayans, at the hands of a military junta whose leader was convicted of genocide and war crimes in May 2013.

Steven Spielberg, founder of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education, will present William Clay Ford, Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, with the Institute’s Ambassador for Humanity Award at the organization’s annual gala, taking place this year in Detroit on September 10, 2015. Ford will be recognized for his leadership and corporate citizenry around education and community. Mickey Shapiro, real estate developer and longstanding member of the Institute’s Board of Councilors, is the event’s co-chairman.

After an ITeach workshop April 15 at the Brno branch of the Jewish Museum of Prague’s Educational Center, a brand-new IWalk in Brno is now available online.

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.

After the disastrous Balkan wars of 1912-13, the Turks lost most of their European possessions. To dilute the Armenian presence and create a homogenous Turkish and Muslim population that would unequivocally support the Turkish state, the Young Turks decided on a policy of resettling Muslim refugees from the Balkan wars in Armenian areas and deporting the indigenous population.  These early measures led to the impoverishment and death of thousands; then came the First World War with Turkey taking the side of Germany against Russia and its allies.

USC Shoah Foundation regional consultant Anna Lenchovska and education expert Oleksandr Voitenko introduced the participants to the multimedia teacher’s guide "Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933: The Human Dimension of the Tragedy."

A lecture by Maximilian Strnad (University of Munich)Doheny Memorial Library, Room 240

Dr. Ugur Ümit Üngör, Professor of History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, lectured on the involvement of Kurdish people in the Armenian Genocide as both perpetrators and resistors of the mass violence.

USC Shoah Foundation and Discovery Education will host an interactive virtual experience for middle- and high-school students worldwide to provide a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.

John K. Roth Professor of History and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, and 2015 USC Shoah Foundation Yom Hashoah Scholar in Residence Dr. Wendy Lower discusses the role of German women in the Nazi killing fields.  

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.

Historians continue to debate the extent of German responsibility for the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The Ottoman Empire was an ally of Germany during WWI (1914- 1918). During the war, Germany was blamed for the Armenian Genocide. Historian Arnold Toynbee in his widely read pamphlet Armenian Atrocities published in 1915 “indicted” Germany for what he called a “shameful and terrible page of modern history” in Armenia.

Capping off months of preparation, study and travel, the first group of USC Shoah Foundation Junior Interns returned to the Institute’s office in May to present their final thoughts on their participation in Auschwitz: The Past is Present program.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the first integration of Armenian Genocide testimonies into the Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation released one clip from the Armenian Genocide collection on the Institute’s website each day in April 2015 for the next 30 days. To help put the clips into perspective, each one is introduced by experts in the field of the Armenian Genocide. The presenters also recommend additional resources for those who would like to learn more.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, March 8, 2015, listen to the testimonies of 10 amazing women from the Visual History Archive who all “made it happen,” from standing up to injustice to saving lives during the Holocaust to preserving the memories of genocide victims and many other courageous acts.

After learning the methodology of teaching with testimony and creating new lessons last year, the 2014 cohort of Teaching with Testimony in the 21st Century in Hungary returned for their follow-up session to share what they have learned.

USC Shoah Foundation archivist Sandra Aguilar interprets and formats information and details about the interviewees and the interviews to be brought into the database systems of the Visual History Archive. She is also a liaison between USC Shoah Foundation’s research specialists and database programmers to develop ways for the testimonies to be searched and experienced.

Vera Laska describes how, as a teenager, she helped Jews and French political prisoners cross the mountains from Slovakia into Hungary. This clip is part of the new Facing History and Ourselves IWitness activity Choosing to Rescue.

Students learn the incredible true story of a group of Ukrainian Jews who hid in underground caves during the Holocaust in the IWitness Information Quest activity that ties into the 2013 film No Place on Earth.

Branko Lustig, producer of Schindler’s List and our 50,000th interviewee in the Visual History Archive; recalls returning to Auschwitz during the filming of the TV mini-series War and Remembrance. Branko also describes how important it is not only to remember the Holocaust but also for future generations to learn from it.

Bella Fox recalls the terrifying experience of arriving to Auschwitz-II Birkenau from the Sighet ghetto in Romania. Bella’s testimony was collected by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre and will be integrated into the Visual History Archive part of the Preserving the Legacy Initiative.

USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research is seeking proposals for three exciting opportunities: the USC Student Research Fellowships, Greenberg Research Fellowship, and the international workshop “Music as Resistance to Genocide.”

Over the last several years, I’ve had the distinct privilege to work with the recorded materials collected by the late Dr. J Michael Hagopian. A survivor of the Armenian Genocide himself, Michael had the foresight to capture the voices of those who witnessed the atrocities first hand.  Later this month, the USC Shoah Foundation will make a group of 60 of these interviews available through the Visual History Archive, ensuring that these recollections will be preserved in perpetuity, for future generations.  Michael would have certainly been proud to witness this accomplishment.

USC Shoah Foundation Senior Education Specialist and Trainer Lesly Culp will lead the first session of a two-part webinar on Echoes and Reflection Wednesday, August 5; educators can sign up here.

The four-year project will identify and develop resources, activities and pathways into IWitness that will be appropriate and effective for teaching the Holocaust and other topics at Jewish day schools of all denominations.

USC Shoah Foundation has joined forces with La Fundación de Antropología Forense de Guatemala (FAFG), a Guatemalan forensics organization, to collect video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Guatemalan Genocide.

The fourth cohort of Teaching with Testimony in the 21st Century in Poland met last week for their initial training on using testimony in their classrooms.

Specific places in genocide histories occupy different psychological spaces for survivors, witnesses, and visitors. When a place is preserved, or restored for the purpose of memorialization it is inherently transformed. This panel explores various aspects of this transformation: preparation, planning, execution, and consequences. The themes of memory, identity, and narrative are investigated in the creation of exhibitions and museum spaces that are also touristic landmarks.Chair: Marianne Hirsch, Ph.D.Edyta Gawron, Ph.D.András Lénart, Ph.D.