Institute senior staff among delegates from 28 member states USC Shoah Foundation Institute Executive Director Stephen D. Smith, Managing Director Kim Simon, and Director of Programs Kori Street were in Belgium this week for the year's first plenary gathering of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF).

On September 21, 1920, the Hungarian Parliament passed Law XXV, now known as the Numerus Clausus Law (a system of “closed numbers”), introduced to limit the number of Jewish students in higher education. To mark this dark period of Hungarian history, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest has organized an exhibition commemorating the 90th anniversary of this event.

ext week the USC Shoah Foundation will host the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO) 2015 Winter Seminar: “Fading Memories and Emerging Voices: The Changing State of Holocaust Research.”

USC Shoah Foundation hosted a special event titled The Digital Future of Holocaust Memory and Education in Aspen, Colorado, yesterday, to introduce new supporters to the work of the Institute.

Two USC Shoah Foundation staff members gave a presentation to 120 high school students from all over the world who are in Rwanda for the three-week WiSci Girls STEAM Camp.

The Institute mourns the passing of members of our community in 2021, including survivors who have given testimony Julio Botton, Fritzie Fritzshall, Eddie Jaku, Roman Kent, Rabbi Bent Melchior, Ruth Pearl, Suzy Ressler, Irving Roth, and Marcus Segal.

As parents and families of USC students descended on campus on Thursday for the first day of Trojan Family Weekend, many were already making sure to stop by Doheny Memorial Library to learn about USC Shoah Foundation and explore the Visual History Archive.

The Italian Ministry of Education has passed a decree that will pave the way for USC Shoah Foundation’s multimedia resource "Giving Memory a Future" to be used in schools across Italy to teach about the Roma/Sinti experience during the Holocaust.

Five staff members gathered for a special event to celebrate the conclusion of their year-and-a-half long project to index the Institute's new collection from Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) of San Francisco.

We are saddened to learn of the recent passing of Arkadii Vaispapir, one of few people ever to have survived the Sobibór death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during the Holocaust. He was 96.

Gerald Szames chokes up easily, especially when talking about his mother. So for years, his daughter has taken it upon herself to tell her father’s story of surviving the Holocaust as a small boy. She speaks to audiences at schools, houses of worship and community centers, often with her father by her side to answer questions. 

Board members, senior staff and other supporters of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education are traveling throughout Hungary and Poland this week on the Institute’s mission to Eastern Europe.

In the collective memory, the February Revolution has faded or been mixed with the October Revolution, which happened eight months later and defined the trajectory of the Russian history for the next 70 years. However, the memory of the February Revolution is preserved in several eyewitness testimonies to the Holocaust in the Visual History Archive.

The Institute invites you to a lecture by Dr. Sean Field, Director of the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Popular Memory, which documents the oral histories of refugees, victims of violence and displacement, and others who suffered under apartheid and its legacy. Dr. Field will evaluate the outcomes of various methodologies oral history researchers have used to preserve memories of apartheid; his lecture will take place this Thursday, November 15 at 6:00 pm, in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center, Room 227.

USC Shoah Foundation is issuing its first-ever call for proposals for an international conference to be held next November, inspired by the 20th anniversary of Schindler’s List.

The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research invites research proposals from USC faculty members and graduate students for its Summer 2017 Research Fellowships.

Forty-nine universities and museums around the world now have full access to the Visual History Archive. The Visual History Archive's 52,000 testimonies will be available to members of the University of Vienna - faculty and students - for the purposes of teaching, studying and research.

USC Shoah Foundation has added 132 testimonies to its Visual History Archive. These firsthand accounts of mass atrocities spanning more than 100 years are now available to researchers, educators, family members, and the public.

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch had a lucky moment while being processed at the Sauna in Auschwitz-Birkenau.  One of the girls processing her asked her what she did prior to landing in that place of unspeakable horror. “I played the cello,” she answered. That surreal conversation, not far from the gas chambers at Birkenau, would save her life.  As a member of the Auschwitz women's orchestra, playing the cello meant respite from heavy labor.  

A delegation of USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education supporters and board members will travel to Hungary and Poland this October to commemorate the Institute’s 20th anniversary and learn more about its work in Eastern Europe.

On January 25, 2019, the fifth- and sixth-graders of a school in Cottbus, Germany honored all those affected during the Holocaust by unveiling a Butterfly Project memorial to the 1.5 million children murdered during this dark moment in history. This first-ever initiative in Germany introduced a new, younger audience to real stories of local children.

USC Shoah Foundation executive staff, supporters and partners met in China this week for the 2015 USC Global Conference, where they shared the Institute’s mission and newest projects with an international audience.

"Silence is not an option" became the motto of over 100 guests who learned about USC Shoah Foundation’s mission to fight against hatred and intolerance through genocide survivor and witness testimony.

Even though they were surrounded by members of Hollywood elite and New York society, a group of teenagers seemed to steal the spotlight at the Oct. 3 Ambassadors for Humanity gala.

The footsteps of Holocaust survivors come to life in IWalks, USC Shoah Foundation’s interactive testimony-based educational program.

USC Shoah foundation is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Anneliese Nossbaum, who survived a Jewish ghetto and three concentration camps. Anneliese passed away March 23, 2020 after falling ill within weeks of returning from a trip that commemorated the 75-year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. She was 91. She was born on January 8, 1929 in Guben, Germany as Anneliese Winterberg.  At the age of two, her family moved to Bonn where her father later became the rabbi of their synagogue.  

The USC Shoah Foundation stands in solemn tribute to the memory of those murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and to those hostages still in captivity. As we mark this day, we reflect not only on the devastating loss of life but also on the dangerous beliefs that led to this atrocity. The attacks on October 7 revealed the persistence of virulent antisemitism in communities across the globe. Antisemitism threatens the memory of the Holocaust, threatens individual lives and communities, and undermines democratic values, the rule of law, and global security.

We are grateful that so many of these survivors, partners, friends, and family members have entrusted us to share their stories for future generations, and for the passion and dedication they brought in support of our mission.

The 53,000 testimonies in the Visual History Archive from the USC Shoah Foundation tell a complete personal history of life before, during and after the interviewee’s firsthand experience with genocide. These testimonies are an invaluable resource for humanity, as in addition to their experience through some of the darkest chapters of human history; the testimonies also recount happy memories of childhood and successes in life including careers, children and grandchildren.