The USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research organized a symposium in the Fall to honor the work of leading Holocaust scholar David Cesarani from Great Britain, who died just weeks after being named by the USC Shoah Foundation the inaugural Sara and Asa Shapiro Scholar in Residence. These are the remarks made by Rob Rozett at the event.

In just a few days, I’ll be graduating with my bachelors in International Relations from USC. As I sit here writing this piece, I have a chance to reflect on these three years of fundamental personal and academic growth, and in particular, on my incredibly rewarding intern experience at USC Shoah Foundation.

The 2017-2018 Interdisciplinary Research Week at USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research has come to a close, but for the seven scholars who were awarded this year’s fellowship, the work is just beginning.

Atop the piano in Ruth Katz’s childhood home was a picture of a man she knew only as “Uncle Oskar.”

On August 2, 1944, nearly 3,000 Roma and Sinti women, men and children were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

On August 2, 1944, nearly 3,000 Roma and Sinti women, men and children were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

USC Shoah Foundation mourns the passing of our friend Max Eisen, a Holocaust survivor who returned to Auschwitz-Birkenau more than 20 times as an educator and testified at the trials of two SS guards in 2015, more than 70 years after his entire family was killed in Nazi concentration camps. Max’s memoir, By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz, was the 2019 winner of Canada Reads, a Canadian Broadcasting Company “battle of the books” program, and was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize in 2017. 

When one works in the field of Holocaust memory, you tend to find that your colleagues are a mission driven, self-effacing, highly dedicated bunch. We work with hard subjects, care deeply and build strong bonds with one another as we cope with the challenging, yet abundantly meaningful work. We were blessed here at USC Shoah Foundation to have formed those strong bonds with the brilliant and compassionate Kia Hays.

Genocide survivor Consolée Uwamariya learns video testimony indexing.

In the moments before Shaylee Atary Winner escaped from her home in the early morning hours of October 7, she saw her husband fighting to close the iron window grates in their safe room over the hand of a terrorist who was reaching in. With a glance, Shaylee and her husband silently agreed she would take their baby and run.

Cuellar is researching the experiences of women and girls in scorched earth campaigns in Guatemala and El Salvador.

USC Shoah Foundation education staff are once again on the road this week to introduce educators in Texas and Massachusetts to IWitness.

Learn about the 10 educational resources that USC Shoah Foundation will debut for the first 10 days of its "100 Days to Inspire Respect" program, launching January 20.

Members of London’s Armenian community learned about USC Shoah Foundation and its Armenian Genocide testimony collection at a special presentation on June 18.

The new testimony will join an interview Hovannisian gave filmmaker J. Michael Hagopian in 1975 that is already available to view in the Visual History Archive.

The international Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) awarded IWitness its Seal of Alignment for Proficiency after a rigorous review process, marking five years that IWitness has been approved by ISTE.

Ildikó Barna, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences and Program Director of the department’s Ethnic and Minority Policy MA Program at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest has been awarded the 2018-2019 International Teaching Fellowship at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research. The International Teaching Fellowship bestowed by the Center provides support for faculty at institutions that subscribe to the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive (VHA) to integrate testimonies into new or existing courses.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Feb. 11, 2025) — The USC Shoah Foundation announced the appointment of Dr. Brian Hughes as the inaugural Director of its Countering Antisemitism Laboratory, marking a significant expansion of the institute's mission to combat hatred through research, education and action.

Today marks the beginning of Kwibuka20, Rwanda’s three-month commemoration of the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi Genocide.

Students are asked to engage with primary and secondary sources and construct a short video essay on the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism.

Florida Holocaust Museum has joined the Preserving the Legacy initiative. USC Shoah Foundation ITS staff are currently indexing FHM’s collection of 207 Holocaust survivor testimonies.

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 mourns the passing of Marta (Weiss) Wise, who was ten years old when she was liberated from Auschwitz, having endured the medical torture of Josef Mengele, along with her sister, Eva (Weiss) Slonim. She was 88. Marta and Eva were among a group of children pictured in a photograph—a still from a film shot by a Soviet cameraman soon after the liberation of Auschwitz—that became an iconic image of the horrors of the death camp where nearly one million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

New York, NY (October 14, 2024) —Nearly 700 guests convened for an unforgettable evening of celebration and inspiration at the USC Shoah Foundation’s Ambassadors for Humanity Gala. This milestone event marked the institute's 30th anniversary, honoring the resilience of Holocaust survivors while emphasizing the critical importance of preserving their testimonies for future generations. 

Michigan student Brandon Bartley shares how testimony inspired him when he participated in the IWitness Detroit program last summer.

"Stranded in Shanghai,” an exhibit featuring testimonies from the Visual History Archive, opened at the Jewish Museum in Prague on Thursday, May 11.

Peace Week is a series of events to commemorate the conclusion of the four-year program.

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

During a recent Twitter chat, #IWitnessChat hosted by Discovery Education, teachers shared how they are integrating the IWitness Video Challenge into their classrooms. Explore their insights and tips to help encourage your students to participate in the 2017 IWitness Video Challenge.

For the final week of “100 Days to Inspire Respect,” students will reflect on how they can turn what they’ve learned into positive action in their communities.