The Swedish version of USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony installation was presented in Malmö at the International Forum On Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén hosted the event in Malmö on October 13th and visited the installation where he engaged with interactive biographies of two Swedish Holocaust survivors.  King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden attended the forum, where they visited the installation and met with Holocaust survivors.

We are sad to learn of the passing of Kurt Messerschmidt, Holocaust survivor, educator and beloved cantor. He was 102. Messerschmidt was born Jan. 2, 1915 in Weneuchen, Germany, but moved to Berlin in 1918 and excelled as a linguistics scholar, gymnast and musician. He was well-respected and a leader among his classmates and teachers, but was unable to attend college because of anti-Jewish measures implemented by the Nazis.

Публічна лекція для студентів НАУКМА та всіх бажаючих 8 вересня о 17.00 у приміщенні Міждисциплінарної програми з юдаїки за адресою Волоська 8/5, 5 корпус НАУКМАДоктор Стівен Сміт продемонстрував заснований відомим кінорежисером Стівеном Спілбергом архів Інституту візуальної історії, що містить 52 тисячі відеосвідчень про Голокост, і основну ідею цього найбільшого у світі зібрання таких документів: яким чином ми можемо навчитися від голосів минулого, щоб розірвати цикл насильства у сьогоднішніх суспільствах?

The Problems Without Passports trip to Rwanda ends today after a busy second week that included visits to some of Rwanda’s most stunning nature sites and opportunities for the students to meet politicians and international representatives.

Tony Cole, who teaches hard-to-reach students at CSS South Quadrant in Basildon, Essex, introduced educators to IWitness at a workshop at the University of London’s Centre for Holocaust Education in October.

These resources make it possible for anyone to embark on the IWalks and hear the stories of survivors in the authentic locations where they experienced the Holocaust.

I participated in an event in April called Survivor Voices. We were six panelists from Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, two Holocaust survivors and an Armenian-American priest.

In April 1915, the Ottoman government initiated plans to systematically destroy the Armenian population as it existed in the Ottoman empire. Their actions included (but were not limited to) forced displacement, starvation, imprisonment, and the use of the military and proxies to commit mass violence.

Kiril Feferman, PhD, the 2015-2016 Center Fellow, gave a public lecture at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research focusing on the underresearched topic of the role of religion in influencing the behavior and decisions of Jews and non-Jews in the Nazi-occupied Soviet territories between 1941 and 1944.

Much like testimony shows how regimes have constructed borders; testimony demonstrates how individuals can construct bridges to connect with people of different beliefs and identities.

Paris Papamichos Chronakis, Eric Le Bourhis and Andrew Curtis shared their research on the second day of the Digital Approaches to Genocide Studies conference, hosted by USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

Kathryn Brackney, the 2017-2018 Katz Research Fellow in Genocide Studies, gave a public lecture on the research she conducted during her month in residence at the Center.

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

In China, the number of people still alive who survived the 1937 Nanjing Massacre at the hands of Japanese invaders has fallen to minuscule levels – some experts put the number around 80. USC Shoah Foundation’s collection of about 100 testimonies of survivors from this rampage that killed some 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers includes the vast majority of them. This fall, the Institute reached a milestone: The entire collection of Nanjing testimonies has been indexed and subtitled in English.

Alan Rose was repeating himself. He was stuck in a particularly difficult part of his story about being deported from a labor camp to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Josh Turnil and the guests he had invited to hear Alan’s story in Josh’s Paris living room that January 2019 evening – about 20 people of all ages tucked into sofas and folding chairs – gently helped Alan along. After Alan had finished speaking, Josh’s teenage son sat at the piano and played a slow, jazzy melody with a repeating refrain that reflected the circularity of memory.

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. 

USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual history and Education embarked on a new chapter on Tuesday when it unveiled its new global headquarters on the USC campus. The event also marked the start of the Institute’s 25th anniversary, a time that will propel its work into new frontiers as it continues its mission of sharing the 55,000 testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides to foster empathy and respect.

“My father is Jewish.  My mother is Jewish. And I am Jewish.”  Those were the words I kept repeating to myself as I boarded my flight from JFK to attend the 70th anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the USC Shoah Foundation announced today at AJC Global Forum their newly formed partnership to give voice to, document, and map modern-day antisemitism around the world. 

A conversation with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

During the weekend of October 10-11, the University of Southern California gathered international academics, musicians and members of the Los Angeles community for a symposium and series of events, collectively called Singing in the Lion’s Mouth: Music as Resistance to Genocide. Hosted by Professor Wolf Gruner of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, and Professor Nick Strimple of the USC Thornton School of Music, the symposium, film screening and concert were also sponsored by USC’s Vision and Voices arts and humanities initiative. The following paragraphs are a reflection on the individual events that made up the weekend, and an exploration into the larger ideas raised in discussions over the course of the weekend.

USC Shoah Foundation staff are currently in Nanjing, China, to record about 20 more testimonies of Nanjing Massacre survivors.

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

USC Shoah Foundation responds to the stifling of freedom in Turkey following the failed coup attempt July 15-16, 2016.

USC Shoah Foundation staff members are in Rwanda this week participating in a colloquium about peace education, hosted by the Institute’s partner in Rwanda, Aegis Trust.

The group visiting the Institute’s office on Tuesday were students in Robert Hernandez’ digital journalism class at USC.

An estimated 43,000 students participated in 100 Days resources and activities from January 20-April 29.

"We'll Meet Again," the PBS series that featured a Holocaust survivor who came to USC Shoah Foundation in hopes of reconnecting with the family of another Holocaust survivor he met at a displaced-persons camp in the waning days of World War II is now available for streaming.

We are very saddened at the USC Shoah Foundation to learn that our friend and Holocaust survivor Cantor Moshe Taube has passed away at age 93. Cantor Taube was among 1,200 Jews saved by Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust and led in the chanting of prayers at Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh.

The documentary Two Sides of Survival just landed Winner of Best Documentary Short at the Angeles Film Festival. Produced by USC Shoah Foundation, Two Sides of Survival brings together stories from the East and West, chronicling how Jews who fled the Nazis in Europe, and Chinese who were threatened by Japanese occupation, improbably found refuge close to one another in the 1930’s and during World War II.