Join USC Shoah Foundation’s Dr.

On November 7th 1996, Nancy Fisher, a bundle of nerves, knocked on the door of Erika Gold’s home in Leonia, New Jersey. She was there on behalf of the Shoah Foundation to interview Erika, a Holocaust survivor. Nancy was terrified to conduct the interview. Knowing only the Nancy Fisher of today, I am shocked to hear this. Nancy exudes a calm wisdom, care, and confidence that only 25 years of Holocaust survivor interviewing could foster.

  Call for Applications from PhD Candidates   Greenberg Research Fellowship Katz Research Fellowship in Genocide Studies

Join Ashley K. Fernandes, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Center for Bioethics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine for a webinar commemorating the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg, where physicians were placed on trial for their active participation in the labeling, persecution, and eventual mass murder of those deemed “lives unworthy of living.”

USC Shoah Foundation and Discovery Education have announced the winners of the United Kingdom category of the 2021 international Stronger Than Hate Challenge First prize in the challenge was awarded to Elizabeth Stickland, a Year 8 (US 7th grade) student from Attleborough Academy who wrote a powerful poem about how communities can overcome prejudice. Elizabeth’s top prize is a £5,000 ($6,700) grant for her school and an iPad.

A cohort of forty-one new students and five returning Junior Intern Emissaries convened virtually on November 14 for the first session of the 2021-2022 William P. Lauder Junior Internship Program. The highly selective program provides a dynamic and unique learning opportunity for students in 7th–11th grades to engage with testimonies–personal stories–from survivors and witnesses of genocide to develop their own voice, learn to recognize the patterns and impact of hate, and gain work experience and academic and digital skills.

In 2018, under the initiative of the Yale Library’s Fortunoff Video Archive, three leading institutions holding large collections of Holocaust testimonies agreed to make a portion of their materials available as transcripts, along with a subset of video recordings, in Let Them Speak / In Search of the Drowned: Testimonies and Testimonial Fragments of the Holocaust (LTS). LTS is a searchable digital anthology of testimonies which examines survivor experiences and uses them to understand the experiences of those who did not survive. It is also a dynamic monograph with essays by Dr.

Join the Montreal Holocaust Museum, USC Shoah Foundation, and Paragraphe Bookstore for a special event with author Rachael Cerrotti about her latest book “We Share the Same Sky” based on her award-winning podcast.

Longtime USC Shoah Foundation Executive Committee and Board of Councilors member Mickey Shapiro has provided a major endowed gift to create an inaugural academic chair at the Institute that will be dedicated to deepening the study of the impact of Holocaust education.

The online discussion will bring together experts to consider the issue of medical ethics during, and in response to, the Holocaust. Panelists will discuss educational initiatives that draw on the history of the Holocaust to develop ethical leadership in a contemporary context.

On the night of Sidney Bratt’s interview his family was celebrating Hanukkah. He recites the Hanukkah candles blessings from the Jewish prayer book (Siddur) which once belonged to his mother, and is surrounded by his wife and grandchildren while doing so.

This new Virtual Field Trip gives students perspective on compassion and understanding otherness when interacting with those who are different from them. Students will learn how refugees adjust to their new homes and cultures and celebrate the courage people can have in times of great change.

As a girl in Budapest, Olga Menczer always looked forward to the fourth night of Hanukkah—when she finally got her turn to light the family menorah. Olga recorded her story of survival with us in 1998 and continued to educate her community in New Jersey for many years. We join Olga in wishing all who are sharing in the light a happy fourth candle.

Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the arrival of the first Kindertransport to the United Kingdom. This rescue operation saved 10,000 child refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. As part of the commemoration, USC Shoah Foundation has produced an animated short film, “Music Dreams,” based on the story of Lisa Jura, a young Holocaust survivor who in 1938 escaped from Vienna to London on the Kindertransport.

Holocaust Survivor Solly Ganor, on the December holidays in Kaunus (Kovno), Lithuania.

Learn more about the film.

It was 83 years ago this week that 13-year-old Lisa Jura boarded a Kindertransport train from Vienna to London, the first step in a journey that would be memorably depicted by her daughter Mona Golabek in the acclaimed The Children of Willesden Lane books. A series of rescue efforts organized by Sir Nicholas Winton, the Kindertransport helped nearly 10,000 Jewish children escape from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia to safety in the United Kingdom.

Join UNESCO and USC Shoah Foundation for a virtual panel discussion on the topic of “How to counter antisemitism: the role of educators and education.”

USC Shoah Foundation and The Willesden Project today launch the premiere of Music Dreams, an animated short film story telling the story of Lisa Jura, a young Holocaust survivor who in 1938 escaped from Vienna to London on the Kindertransport.

USC Shoah Foundation and The Conscious Kid are partnering to develop and implement a series of grade K-5 resources and education initiatives to counter antisemitism and raise awareness to appreciate cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. The Conscious Kid was founded in 2016 by Katie Ishizuka and Ramon Stephens, both parents of color who found a lack of diverse representation in children’s literature at their local library when looking for reading material for their young sons.

 Madame Xia discusses her family's experiences on December 13, 1937, when Japanese forces entered Nanjing, China.

Mya Worrell (they/them) supports the Center's programming, research, and outreach. They’ve been with USC since 2016, earning a BA in Gender & Sexuality Studies and American Studies & Ethnicity in 2020. They joined the Center for Advanced Genocide Research in 2021. While an undergraduate student, they interned at USC Asian Pacific American Student Services and Kaya Press, assisting with events and developing programming.

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.

Another year dominated by the ongoing pandemic draws to a close. From producing animated films to conducting interviews, forging new partnerships and sharing incredible testimonies, 2021 was a year to remember. Here are some of the highlights of the work the Institute has accomplished.

USC Shoah Foundation and education partners can help you make the film a part of your classroom experience.

In February 2012 Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter sat down inside a light stage surrounded by 50 cameras and 6,000 LED bulbs to give his testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive. Gutter’s interview was the first proof of concept of Dimensions in Testimony (DiT), a groundbreaking new technology that enables viewers to pose questions to survivors like Gutter and hear their responses in real-time, lifelike conversation.

USC Shoah Foundation and the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute Foundation (AGMI) in Yerevan have launched a new partnership to develop programming to extend the reach of their collections, research and education initiatives using testimony related to the 1915 Ottoman campaign that murdered 1.5 million Armenians.