While more than one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust, some survived in hiding.  This video tells the story of Eva Lewin and her experience in the Kindertransport, a series of rescue efforts that helped nearly 10,000 Jewish children escape from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia to safety in Great Britain.

This video focuses on the theme of religion and rescue, and recounts examples of how religious leaders acted both individually and as part of a network to protest anti-Jewish measures and provide refuge to Jews in convents, monasteries, and private homes. The video shares the experiences of Edward Harvitt and Kurt Lewin, Jewish survivors who were recipients of aid during the Holocaust; and Isaac Sephiha, who worked with Catholic clergy to help Jews.  

This video focuses on the theme of acknowledging rescue, which recognizes the actions of those who contributed to the rescue and aid of Jews during the Holocaust, and who serve as examples to the world of the importance of preserving human dignity and human rights in the face of extreme danger and authoritarian rule. Many of these individuals have been honored by governments, communities, and local and international organizations for their actions.

During the Holocaust, numerous individuals and groups risked their lives to save countless Jews.  Originally displayed for International Holocaust Remembrance Day at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, this exhibit showcases five themes of rescue brought to light in the testimonies of nine Jewish survivors and four rescuers and aid providers.

Presented as part of USC’s Genocide Awareness Week, three events organized by the USC Shoah Foundation will explore artistic responses to genocide, highlighting the ability of creative expression to shine light in the darkness and give voice to silence. The events will reveal the power of the arts to communicate messages of survival and hope in the face of great tragedy. The series is sponsored by the USC Visions and Voices initiative.

Presented as part of USC’s Genocide Awareness Week, this, the first of three events organized by the USC Shoah Foundation, will explore artistic responses to genocide, highlighting the ability of creative expression to shine light in the darkness and give voice to silence. The events will reveal the power of the arts to communicate messages of survival and hope in the face of great tragedy. The series is sponsored by the USC Visions and Voices initiative.

Presented as part of USC’s Genocide Awareness Week, three events organized by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute will explore artistic responses to genocide, highlighting the ability of creative expression to shine light in the darkness and give voice to silence. The events will reveal the power of the arts to communicate messages of survival and hope in the face of great tragedy. The series is sponsored by the USC Visions and Voices initiative.

September 10, 2010: the USC Shoah Foundation Institute hosted a panel discussion that addressed the role of testimony in the process of national mourning, transitional justice, and memorialization.

Venuste describes losing his daughter right before his eyes. Born: 1953 City of Birth: Kabagali (Gitarama, Rwanda) In hiding: Kicukiro (Kigali, Rwanda) Liberated by: Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Liberation location: Nyanza (Kicukiro, Kigali, Rwanda)

This video shows select clips from survivors of the Holocaust, as well as other genocides that have occurred in recent history.

Phansy details how she was affected by losing both her parents and children during the genocide. Born: December 10, 1950City of Birth: Phnom Penh (Cambodia)Country of birth: CambodiaCooperatives: Kandal province (Cambodia); Pursat province (Cambodia)Liberated by: Vietnamese armed forcesLiberation location: Pursat province (Cambodia)  

April 19, 2012: For the Institute's Yom HaShoah Commemoration Event on Thursday, April 19, 2012, Father Patrick Desbois, a Catholic priest and author of The Holocaust by Bullets, gave a keynote address discussing his field research on identifying sites of mass executions in Ukraine. Students, community members, faculty, and staff gathered for a moving evening, which also included readings by USC students, live music, a candle lighting, and prayer.

April 16, 2012: Dr. Yehuda Bauer, one of the foremost authorities on the subject of the Holocaust, made an exclusive trip to Los Angeles to give the Institute's inaugural Yom Hashoah lecture. Bauer, who is the Institute's scholar-in-residence, discussed the roots of genocide and realistic approaches to overcoming it.

March 4, 2013: What can the Institute’s Visual History Archive teach us about other mediations of the Holocaust: how survivors tell their stories, how life performance and other media shape their narratives, or even how humor figures into remembrance? Rutgers University Professor Jeffrey Shandler, the Institute's Senior Fellow, explored such questions in a lecture titled “Interrogating the Index: Or, Reading the Archive against the Grain,” which gave a fresh look at the archive as more than a repository for testimony.

Six Holocaust survivors: Fred Katz, Esther Gever, Jacob Wiener, Eva Abraham-Podietz, Robert Behr, and Herbert Karliner, recount their personal experiences during the Kristallnacht Pogrom and the events that followed.This video compilation was created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with footage from the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s archive. (Running time: 21.35)

Irene recounts her experience of being liberated by the British Army from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in April 1945. Irene Weiss was born Irene Traub on August 2, 1919, in Halmeu, a small Jewish community in Romania. In March 1944, Irene, her parents, and seven siblings were deported to the Szatmar ghetto in Transylvania where they stayed for two months. In June 1944, Irene was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she was separated from her parents, who would perish in the gas chambers, and began work as a forced laborer.

This exhibit features a series of interviews with witnesses of the pogrom that occurred on November 9-10, 1938, known as Kristallnacht, "Night of Broken Glass." Organized in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Seven Holocaust survivors and liberators share their perspectives and recollections of liberation. Click on the thumbnails to watch.

Martin relates his experience of being liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in April 1945. Martin Aaron was born April 21, 1929, in Teresva, Czechoslovakia. Growing up in the nearby Jewish community of Sapanta, Romania, Martin recalls experiencing antisemitism, which intensified after Hungary annexed the area in 1940. In 1944, the Hungarians and Germans forced Martin, his parents, and five siblings to move into the Tacovo ghetto before they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Kurt describes liberating survivors of a death march in May 1945, in Volary, Czechoslovakia, including his first encounter with his future wife, Gerda. Kurt Klein was born July 2, 1920, in Walldorf, Germany. As the Nazi persecution of German Jews intensified, Kurt’s parents decided to send him and his siblings to live with distant relatives in Buffalo, New York, where he worked in various jobs, including the printing business, trying to raise enough money to bring his parents to the United States. Kurt was drafted into the United States Army in 1943.

Gerda describes being liberated by the United States Army and encountering her future husband, U.S. Army Lt. Kurt Klein, in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in May 1945. Gerda Klein was born Gerda Weissmann on May 8, 1924, in Bielsko, Poland. Gerda and her brother, Arthur, grew up relatively unaware of the spread of Nazism, until Poland was invaded in 1939; soon after, Arthur was taken away on a transport. In April 1942, Gerda and her parents were ordered into the Bielsko ghetto.

Bernard relates his experience as an American GI liberating the Gunskirchen concentration camp in Austria in May 1945. Bernard Bermack was born April 3, 1922, in St. Louis, Missouri. Bernard entered the United States Army on October 7, 1942. After receiving training as an artillery specialist, Bernard went overseas as a member of Patton’s Third Army. In May 1945, he was dispatched to serve in an aid organization, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).

Charlotte shares her experience as a U.S. Army nurse who participated in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany in May 1945. Charlotte Chaney was born Charlotte Ellner on October 15, 1921, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Charlotte was trained as a nurse and then volunteered for the Army Air Corps in 1944. That same year she married United States Navyman Bernard Chaney. In May 1945, Charlotte was sent to Europe as a part of the Red Cross, not knowing she was about to take part in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp.

Rose describes her realization that the war had ended and her experience of being liberated from Ober Altstadt labor camp in Czechoslovakia in May 1945. Rose Kaplovitz was born Rozia Zaks on September 6, 1930, in Sosnowiec, Poland. Rose remembers her childhood in the Jewish community on the Polish-German border as relatively happy and secure. However, on the second day of the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Rose witnessed her brother’s execution by German officers.