USC Shoah Foundation's educational platform, IWitness continues hosting free webinars for educators throughout 2016. These webinars aim to provide a more in-depth and interactive approach to learning how to teach with testimony.

Listen to Jewish survivors and other eyewitnesses to the Holocaust describe watching the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In preparation for the start of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Nazis in power decided to minimize the presence of antisemitism in the city.

Eric Frisch describes his experience as a runner in the first Olympic torch relay, which spanned from Greece to Germany, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Frisch further recalls meeting Jesse Owens forty years after the games. 

Robert J. Katz, one of USC Shoah Foundation’s most dedicated and long-term supporters, has announced his retirement from USC Shoah Foundation’s Board of Councilors, and that he will remain chair emeritus on the board for the next three years.

Fernand Bybelezer shares his memories of French writer and painter Max Jacob, who he knew when he was a young man.

Ellen Brandt recalls the efforts by the Nazis to hide any evidence of anti-Semitism from the press during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and the intensified anti-Semitism that came after the games. 

Endre Altmann recalls his experience as a member of the Romanian Olympic fencing team and explains his decision not to participate in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 

USC Shoah Foundation will kick off its 2016-17 school year education for Detroit-area teachers with an ITeach Seminar the weekend of August 15, followed by 12 more IWitness Detroit professional development seminars held through April of 2017.

Holocaust survivor Judith Ertsey talks about how she has been treated as an immigrant and a Jew in America, as well as attitudes toward other minority groups.

The staff of the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research had a dilemma on their hands. They could only choose one applicant to award the 2016 Graduate Summer Research Fellowship – but they couldn’t bring themselves to turn away their runner-up, Piotr Florczyk, because his proposal was so fascinating. It’s easy to see why. Florczyk, a PhD candidate in the USC Literature and Creative Writing program, intends to write poetry inspired by the testimonies of Polish Holocaust survivors in the archive.

Faculty at universities around the world have three more weeks to apply for two fellowships at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

Jack Bernstein remembers his experience waiting with excitement for liberation soldiers in France in August 1945, and the confusion and frenzy that surrounded their arrival.

Discover the testimonies of Holocaust survivors who share memories of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which is commemorating its 80th anniversary this week as the 2016 Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro.

Gerda Frieberg describes her reactions to seeing Hitler during the festivities surrounding the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 

All testimonies from USC Shoah Foundation’s Armenian Genocide collection have been indexed and will be integrated into the Visual History Archive in the coming months.

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

Armenian survivor Jiryar Zorthian explains how Turkish officials became nervous when Armenians began speaking out for their rights.

Ellen Kilston remembers the Nazis’ hiding of all anti-Semitic propaganda during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. She further explains the role this deception played in shaping foreign perceptions of Jewish life under Hitler.  

Diane Jacobs remembers watching Jesse Owens accept his medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and the admiration she felt for his refusing to salute the Nazi flag. 

In an effort to create a deeper engagement with educators online, USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness hosts Twitter chats on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month. Meet fellow IWitness educators, ask questions directly to the IWitness team and join the IWitness community.

Help USC Shoah Foundation test a new set of interviews for New Dimensions in Testimony at the  Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Summer might be a break for students, but as an educator, I know teachers are busy enhancing their skills and knowledge to improve their curriculum and students’ overall experience in their classrooms. As you contemplate lesson plans for the upcoming year, will you be planning a unit or lesson about the Holocaust? Do you feel you have enough knowledge about the topic to teach it well? How will you introduce your students to that history and experiences? What readings and resources will you use? What approach will you take with this sensitive topic?

USC Shoah Foundation, writer Robin Migdol sits down with Kia Hays project manager of New Dimensions in Testimony.

Highlights of the 2016 Master Teacher program in Budapest. A USC Shoah Foundation’s professional development initiative, Master Teacher (formerly Teaching with Testimony) is a two-year program that incorporates workshops, mentoring, and community building to prepare educators to search for and utilize testimony from the Visual History Archive, as well as other digital learning tools such as IWitness.

Carlos Mendes was the son of Aristides Sousa Mendes, Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time. Carlos Mendes reflects on his father’s fundamental willingness to risk his career and life to save persecuted Jews.

Carlos Mendes explains the sadness he feels for his father’s overlooked heroism and the pride he feels for the work his father did.  Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time. For this act of resistance, Sousa Mendes faced trials and conviction, leaving him to live out the rest of his life in poverty and disgrace, and his 15 children scattered all over Europe and the U.S.

Esther Dresner expresses the gratitude she feels to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a man who did the right thing, regardless of the price.  Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time. For this act of resistance, Sousa Mendes faced trials and conviction, leaving him to live out the rest of his life in poverty and disgrace, and his 15 children scattered all over Europe and the US.

Jewish survivor Henri Deutsch explains the extent of Aristides de Sousa Mendes’ deep commitment to aiding persecuted Jews.  Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time.

Henri Deutsch reflects on the sacrifice that Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes  made to save the lives of so many Jews during the Holocaust. Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat stationed in Bordeaux in the late 1930s who issued tens of thousands of visas to Jewish families, in direct violation of anti-Jewish laws instituted by Portugal’s fascist government at the time.