Jennifer Goss teaches AP U.S. Government and Politics, Virginia/U.S. History and a Holocaust and Genocide Studies elective at Robert E. Lee High School in Staunton, Va. Goss has a Master's in Holocaust & Genocide Studies and is an United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellow.

USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research is calling for applications from advanced-standing Ph.D. candidates for its Spring 2017 Genocide Prevention Research Fellowship.

The Kristallnacht pogrom was a critical turning point on the path to genocide, and all of our #IWitnessChat participants agreed that using testimony is a meaningful way for students to understand and connect with the event. Hearing survivors’ detailed accounts of this night makes it much more accessible to students.

Holocaust survivor Peter Wagner remembers the results of the 1932 presidential election, in which a very small minority of his elementary school classmates claimed that their parents voted for Hitler.

Los Angeles, November 3, 2016 – Steven Spielberg, founder of USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education, will present Mellody Hobson and George Lucas with the Institute’s 2016 Ambassador for Humanity Award at the organization’s annual gala, to be held this year in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2016. Actor Harrison Ford will be one of the evening’s special guests, with additional guests to be announced. The gala presenting sponsor is The Walt Disney Company, a dedicated supporter of the organization.

Mellody and George will be honored for their steadfast commitment to dynamic and innovative humanitarian efforts, and their longtime support of USC Shoah Foundation. Harrison Ford will be one of the evening's special guests.

A series of clips featuring survivors recalling the difficulties of voting before and during the war in Europe and how it impacted their appreciation of the importance of participating in the democratic process. 

He’s not a household name, but the man who invented the term ‘genocide’ and then embarked on a mission to secure legislation against the terror now has a movie to further the story of his life.

Holocaust survivor Manfred Steinfeld explains the fear that drove German Jews to vote for Hitler in the 1935 presidential election.

On the heels of filming its first-ever Mandarin-language testimony last week, New Dimensions in Testimony added another language to its repertoire of genocide survivor interviews: Holocaust survivor Nimrod “Zigi” Ariav’s Hebrew-language testimony, filmed this week at USC Institute for Creative Technologies.

Holocaust survivor Gloria Lachman remembers Nazi soldiers appearing at her house and physically forcing her grandmother to vote for Hitler, an experience that caused her to deeply value the right to vote.

In light of the heated rhetoric that has come to characterize this historically polarized presidential campaign, USC Shoah Foundation has released a new activity on IWitness – its free online education platform for secondary students – called “Skittles, Deplorables and ‘All Lives Matter’: Leadership and Media Literacy.”

Peter Tillen was so inspired by his high school Holocaust and Genocide Studies elective course last year that he wanted to make sure his whole community celebrated the teacher responsible. Peter nominated his teacher Jennifer Goss for the Dawbarn Education Award, awarded every year to 10 local teachers by the Community Foundation of Central Blue Ridge in Virginia. Last week, Goss was announced as one of the winners of the 2016 awards, which comes with a $10,000 prize. 

On last year’s Giving Tuesday, the USC Shoah Foundation community raised $7,000 to support programs and initiatives to help the Institute change the world through testimony. This November 29, USC Shoah Foundation is counting on you to help reach its goal of $10,000.

Helmut discusses how grateful he is for his life in America, particularly because of his ability to obtain food. He also notes his amazement at how people from different economic classes interact towards one another with respect. 

Andrew expresses his gratitude to the interviewers and the importance of living in the present while acknowledging the tragedies of the past. 

Robert describes his gratitude for America. He focuses on the meaning of freedom and opportunity as well as what citizenship means to him. 

Among many things that are hard to imagine, a site of massacre and mass murder is one of them. Even when that site is not that far away. As one of the youngest interns with the new Babi Yar IWalk - an educational program that put on a walk around the Babi Yar ravine in Ukraine guided by testimony clips from the Visual History Archive - 14-year-old Sofia Daragan did not know much about the ravine until she was invited to help lead the walks.

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.

English translation: “As steel is forged by punches so is our personality. Punches harden and teach us to fight, to continue to fight, to meet challenges, to find new ones and overcome them.  I think that my message in this interview is that such is life. It means to overcome and to forge ahead. Punches can come from where we least expect and we must not fall down—if we do, we must get up. Not all people are bad. The Polish people were not all Antisemitic. Many were good people. And what I have to say to people is to be aware and to use reason.

English Translation: “Always remember what happened. Don't ever forget it, even if it starts becoming just part of history. Don't ever forget and, hopefully, that it will never happen again. Even though the world sees that it is not happening against the Jews, Genocide is still taking place—as in Serbia, in Rwanda. The world does not learn as seen with the recent rebirth of Nazism with the skinheads in Germany. Hopefully, there won't be people denying the Holocaust and people claiming that the existence of gas chambers in Auschwitz- Birkenau was invented by the Jews.

English Translation: “If I made the decision to speak is because I think -- not just for me since it is very difficult [to speak] and I thought about it but not for long-- because I believe that like me, all those who went through the Holocaust should not remain silent. We must speak for the sake of future generations and to prevent this from happening again. And we are not so far from it because, lately, skinheads [Neo-Nazis] are lifting their heads. It is also being said that what we are telling is happening only in the movies, such as in Schindler's List.

English Translation: “The great thing is that all this violence did not take everything away from us because we still have life—a lot of knowledge. At times we learn to survive when surrounded by death. And our greatest contribution is to tell all people, no matter where in the world, that war is no good. In all wars it is always a question of business, of power, of crushing the weaker, the helpless. It is for them that I wish that no family, no people or any other town should consider weapons as the only option. Rather, the option to live is our word, our work.

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.

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.

Doctoral candidates can conduct research in the Visual History Archive through three endowed fellowships. The application deadline is December 15, 2016.

The film, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, has already screened at film festivals across the country and won four awards.

English

IWitness now offers so many testimony clips and activities in multiple languages that new filters have been added to the Watch page and Activity Library to help users easily discover resources in their own language.