A simulation of New Dimensions technology as it may appear in a classroom environment.

This year we will be honoring artist and humanitarian George Clooney. We are also happy to announce that the host for the gala will be Jon Stewart. TNT is our presenting sponsor.

For more information, call the Gala Benefit Line: 818.777.7876

Gerda Haas was aware of her upcoming deportation from Berlin, Germany, as of 1942, but was not placed on the deportation list until Mar 17, 1943. She and many other deportees were  first assembled on the Grosse-Hamburger Strasse deportation center and deportation by train took place a few days later. Gerda relates she felt lucky to be sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto in Czechoslovakia and believes it was due to her profession as a nurse.

In celebration of the United States’ Independence Day, the holiday that honors the nation’s birth with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, we share a clip from the testimony of Holocaust survivor Israel Baicher. Israel describes immigrating to the United States as his happiest day and recounts the wonderful life he and his wife successfully built together.

Nechama remembers being taken from her home with her parents to the nearby Seventh Fort, a military fortification in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1941. She and her mother were released shortly thereafter and allowed to return home. Her father, however, remained in the Fort and witnessed the mass killings of Jewish men by German soldiers and the Lithuanian police. Nechama explains how her father was able to survive the mass killings at the time.

In observance of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Alfred Kleeman’s family built a Sukkah (“hut” or “booth”) in which the family ate their meals at their home in Gaukönigshofen, Germany. He remembers the tradition followed by his family in the construction and the decoration of the Sukkah.

Sonia Kempler's father and older brother were both imprisoned at the Breendonk camp in Belgium. Sonia would bring parcels of food to the camp but her father and brother never received the packages.

Cila Aaron hopes her children will live in a world full of tolerance and peace.

Making a Difference – One Voice and One Sandwich at a Time, was created by high school students Cassidy Stein and Ashlen Weddington. Students use IWitness to make personal connections to the voices in the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive.