USC Shoah Foundation presents 24 stories of genocide survivors who recall their experiences as refugees in their testimonies preserved in the Visual History Archive. Each clip of testimony to inspire, inform and shed light on the impact of war, genocide and massacre forcing individuals from their homes.  

The two newest activities in IWitness were written by teachers who were inspired to help fellow educators teach their students profound lessons using testimony from the Visual History Archive.

As an educator who has used IWitness to teach various subjects, units and topics here are some tips to integrating testimony into any curriculum, including Science.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Center for Advanced Genocide Research’s conference, “A Conflict? Genocide and Resistance in Guatemala” will move away from academic analysis for a session entitled “Personal Reflections on Resistance.”

The archive was taken in 56 countries, 21 of which were in Central and South American. Ana is just one of the 1,352 who chose Spanish as their language of choice, while another 560 chose to speak Portuguese.

Aurora Mardiganian speaks here as a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. But from 1918-1920, she was also the face of the Genocide to literally millions of Americans and to others throughout the world. Her tragic, horrific story was told through a 1918 semi-autobiographical book, Ravished Armenia, and a 1919 screen adaptation, also known as Auction of Souls. With the immediacy of a newsreel, the human side to the Genocide was brought to the screen.

USC Shoah Foundation’s project to record testimonies of Jews who experienced persecution while living in the Middle East and Africa during the Holocaust will be a topic of discussion at the "Jews of the Middle East in the Shadow of the Holocaust" conference Jerusalem on April 5, 2016.

Chair/Moderador: Douglas Carranza, Central American Studies, CSU Northridge

English translation: “First, I would like to thank Mr. Steven Spielberg for the brilliant idea he had to create the Shoah Foundation so that all the cruelty committed by the Nazis is never forgotten. I hope that all that we spoke about here, and all that is told about the Shoah, be just a small grain of sand in the vast mountain that should be created (formed) for the much-desired  peace in the world. And all that took place in Germany and in Europe should never happen again. I would also like to say that the world should prevent Nazi cruelty from returning with all its might.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time. For this act of resistance, Sousa Mendes faced trials and conviction, leaving him to live out the rest of his life in poverty and disgrace, and his 15 children scattered all over Europe and the U.S.

Borrowing from a tradition set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he assumed office in 1933 and announced an aggressive agenda for his first 100 days, USC Shoah Foundation will offer 100 Days to Inspire Respect starting Jan. 20, 2017, when America swears in its 45th president.

Professor Atina Grossmann gave a public lecture co-hosted by the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research and the USC Max Kade Institute, offering a different reading of World War II and the Holocaust by mapping Jewish death, survival, and displacement via what she called the geographical margins – the colonial and semi-colonial regions including the Soviet interior, Central Asia, Iran, and British India.

In her talk, Bothe shared her analysis of comments on USC Shoah Foundation's YouTube channel.

We are sad to learn of the passing of Helen Colin, a Holocaust survivor who had the distinction of being the first survivor to speak on camera after being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

This morning, I stood at attention as our select chorus sang the Star Spangled Banner. Looking at the flag in the middle school auditorium, I paused a moment to feel gratitude for growing up in a country where I have the right to define and redefine myself. I grew up believing I could become whoever I wanted to be. The flag stood tall, as did I. Thank goodness, I thought, that I live in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

English Translation: “Yes, it was very difficult to carry on with my life after my husband’s death and after my son disappeared. But, I must say that I never lost my will to live even after having suffered so much, having lived through a war as I did. However, to see myself now surrounded with so much love, my daughter, my son-in-law and my two granddaughters, I never feel down. I have always been willing to help others not to feel left out.

A person doesn’t visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland and come away unchanged, and I was no exception. The empty barracks, the barbed-wire fencing, the solemn exhibits, the telltale chimneys – all these vestiges left a strong impression. But what struck me most was the sheer vastness of the sprawling memorial to history’s most notorious death camp. Walking through Birkenau with my tour group, I gaped at the emptiness stretching for a mile in every direction – nothing but the crumbling remains of buildings half-buried in snow.

More than a year after the 2015 gala to honor that year’s chosen humanitarian for his leadership and corporate citizenry around education and community, the ties between USC Shoah Foundation and the Detroit community have never been stronger.

As the indexer for USC Shoah Foundation’s Armenian Genocide Testimony Collection, I have to listen carefully to hundreds of testimonies assigning keywords to each minute so that these stories will be accessible in the Visual History Archive. Now just in time for the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide we will be integrating an additional 155 indexed testimonies into the Archive. I thought this would be a fitting time to highlight some of the most interesting aspects of the 245 testimonies that will be available in the Visual History Archive Online.

June 20 is recognized by the United Nations as International Refugee Day to raise awareness of the plight of the refugees around the world.

The Junior Interns will spend the next several months engrossing themselves in analyzing what attitudes breed hatred and intolerance, how they can spread positive moral authority and how to become an active participant in civil society, using USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness activities and the Visual History Archive.

On Wednesday, October 5, USC Shoah Foundation will share best practices of using the Visual History Archive, host live conversations with our archivists and indexers; and give a demonstration of the new ProQuest search function.

Borrowing from a tradition set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he assumed office in 1933 and announced an aggressive agenda for his first 100 days, USC Shoah Foundation will offer 100 Days to Inspire Respect starting Jan. 20, 2017, when America swears in its 45th president.

Never forget. Never again. These are common phrases used in Holocaust and genocide education. These are important statements especially when they evoke the real reason to study, learn, and teach about genocide. We must bring this content to students to empower them and encourage them to see beyond themselves. If done right, students become aware of the steps that lead to such atrocities. Teaching about genocide is the only way to have a lasting impact on our students, to affect their worldview, to help them understand that they can make a difference.

Cosponsored by The SCA Alumni Screening Series, USC Institute of Armenian Studies and The Center for Advanced Genocide Research at the USC Shoah Foundation Directed by SCA Alumna Naré Mkrtchyan Produced by Naré Mkrtchyan and Rob Fried Followed by a Q&A with Naré Mkrtchyan 7:30 P.M. on Thursday, September 1st, 2016 The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007 FREE ADMISSION. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPs REQUIRED.

As the first anniversary of my life-changing trip to Poland is upon me, I take time to reflect on the impact that trip has made on me both personally and professionally.  I have learned so much from my experiences as a teacher in USC Shoah Foundation’s and Discovery Education’s Auschwitz: The Past is Present program.

Public visits to USC Shoah Foundation give guests a chance to explore the life stories of survivors and witnesses to genocide preserved in the Visual History Archive, and how testimony is used to overcome prejudice, intolerance and hatred.Description:

​USC Shoah Foundation’s consultant in Ukraine Anna Lenchovska shared the resources of USC Shoah Foundation at a roundtable discussion for educators at the Ukraine National Museum’s Memorial to the Victims of Holodomor in Kyiv on April 7.

A lecture by Dan Stone (Royal Holloway, University of London)USC, Herklotz Room, Doheny Memorial Library (Music Library) 

Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah as it’s known in Hebrew, commemorates and honors the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. This year, people around the world will remember the victims of the Holocaust May 4-5, 2016.