Alphonse Kabalisa was 23 years old when he survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. His father and two siblings, as well as extended family members, were killed in the massacres.

Paul Rukesha, then 16, spent three months eluding Hutu militias who were rampaging across Rwanda in April 1994. His father, his stepmother, his brother, and many other relatives were killed in the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He remembers being rescued by the Rwandan Patriotic Army on July 4, 1994.

Arye Ephrath was born in April 1942 in the basement of his home in Bardejov, where his mother was hiding to avoid deportation. He spent the first three years of his life in hiding, and Arye and his parents were reunited after the war. Here, he reflects on the millions of victims who cannot share their stories.

Floyd Dade served with the 761st Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army, an independent battalion consisting mostly of Black soldiers. He fought in six countries and was attached to the 71st Infantry Division when it liberated the Gunskirchen concentration camp in May 1945. Here he reflects on segregation within the US Army.

As a member of Kibbutz Be’eri’s stand-by unit, Yair Avital left his wife and children in a safe room as he went to the defense of his neighbors. Yair was hit by a bullet and grenades, and saw many friends ruthlessly murdered. While being wheeled into surgery, he learned that his family had survived.

Ron Segev and his younger brother were at the Nova music festival on the morning of October 7. When the attacks began they ran and took cover on the side of a hill, where they came face to face with terrorists. After a narrow escape, they found a jeep and rescued eight people.

Dorin Cohen hid with her husband and two small children in their safe room in Kibbutz Kfar Aza as the Israeli army battled terrorists inside her home. The family was rescued by the Israeli military, who were shocked that anyone had survived the assault and destruction that hit the home.

Ruth Crane survived two ghettos and five concentration camps. Here, she describes how watching her father pray and her mother light Shabbat candles in their home in pre-war Siemianowice, Poland, brought her comfort and peace throughout her life.

Hannah Kaye was at the Chabad of Poway with her parents on Passover in 2019 when an antisemitic gunman entered. Hannah’s mother, Lori Gilbert Kaye, was killed. In this clip, Hannah remembers the sounds and smell of the shooting, and wondering, “where is my mom?”

In the face of the current alarming resurgence in antisemitism, we are expanding our efforts to record testimonies from those who have experienced anti-Jewish hate since 1945 – including those who are experiencing it today. Along with our collection of 55,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies, these new testimonies will be an invaluable resource to researchers, educators, and policymakers in the urgent effort to mitigate the deadly threat of antisemitism to Jewish and non-Jewish communities around the world today.

In 2016, at the age of 25, activist and social entrepreneur Erin Schrode made headlines as she ran for Congress to represent Marin County in Northern California. During the campaign and after, she was targeted by one of North America’s leading neo-Nazis with relentless antisemitic doxing.

Joe Samuels survived the 1941 Farhud, a Nazi-inspired pogrom in Baghdad. With antisemitic restrictions and violence increasing in Iraq with the establishment of the state of Israel, he and his younger brother were smuggled out of Baghdad in 1949. Here, he reflects on the power of accepting one’s destiny.

Rabbi Isaac Levy served as senior Jewish chaplain in the British army, and participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In this clip, he describes how on a trip to Berlin in 1945, he tried to help Jewish survivors contact relatives around the world.

With anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence on the rise around the world, the USC Shoah Foundation this fall launches the Daniel and Marisa Klass USC Shoah Foundation Lecture Series, focusing this year on Antisemitism where leading scholars will guide audiences through the latest research and explore a diversity of approaches to understanding and combating the current upsurge.

Yehuda Bauer (z”l) was much more than his many well-deserved titles, including (but not limited to) Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem, and Honorary Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. He was also a friend and mentor.

In 2018, USC Shoah Foundation launched an initiative to address requests from survivors who, for complex and often very personal reasons, could not come forward in the 1990s. Since the start of COVID, the foundation has received more than 400 requests from survivors to record their testimonies. We believe there are thousands more who want to tell their stories. 

In 2018, USC Shoah Foundation launched an Initiative to address requests from survivors who, for complex and often very personal reasons, could not come forward in the 1990s. Since the start of COVID, the foundation has received more than 400 requests from survivors to record their testimonies. We believe there are thousands more who want to tell their stories. 

Kobi is the Program Specialist for Organizational Engagement and Strategic Partnerships - Programs, and assists with all USC Shoah Foundation agreements.  Kobi has engaged in direct services with and for Holocaust survivors for over a decade.  Prior to joining USC Shoah Foundation, she was the Holocaust Survivors Justice Network Administrator at Bet Tzedek Legal Services.  As an adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming, she taught courses on the Holocaust both inside the classroom and through the University’s Summer Semester Abroad in Israel.  Kobi received her MA in Holocaust Studies

For six months this spring and summer, I had the pleasure of leading a team of staff and volunteers facilitating the beta run of New Dimensions in Testimony (NDT) from USC Shoah Foundation at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. I watched people of all ages approach the giant monitor displaying an image of Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, first with trepidation, then curiosity, then, at last, affection. Here are a few things that I learned about technology and humanity from the project.

May 18, 2016 5 -6:30 p.m. UC Irvine, Merage School Auditorium (SB1, First Floor, Room 1200) Speaker: Stephen Smith, Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation

Cynthia Schirmer currently oversees the finances and business operations of the Institute. She has worked for the Shoah Foundation since March 2016. Prior to that, Cynthia worked as the Shoah Foundation’s Business Officer (while employed at the Dornsife Business Office) from December 2013 thru December 2015. Cynthia has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of La Verne, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Computer Science from Cal State Fullerton.

Susan Popler is Director of the Visual History Archive Program where she is driving initiatives to reimagine how audiences access, engage with and learn from testimony with the goal of expanding global reach, increasing interactions and impact. Prior to joining USC, Susan was Executive Director of Production Operations at Time Inc. During her 18 year tenure, she worked with magazines such as Time, Life, People, InStyle, and Fortune.