What does it mean to live 70 years after the liberation of Auschwitz in a world in deep crisis? What does it mean with all we know about the damage that hatred causes – after all the pain we have gone through – that we are hurtling out of control into an inferno of rage that takes us right back to where we started?  Why are survivors of the Holocaust who walked out of the camps with at least the hope that their own suffering was not in vain, dying disappointed?

USC Shoah Foundation has published a new online exhibit and two new IWitness activities that expand the Institute’s educational offerings in terms of language and subject matter.

Julia Lentini describes the events on March 8, 1943, when the town mayor told her father that Julia's family would be deported from their home to Frankfurt for a few days. The family was deported to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. This testimony clip is featured in the new IWitness activity: The Nazi Genocide Against the Rome and Sinti (Gypsy) People.

Teachers in Hungary are once again invited to learn how to construct their own testimony-based classroom activities.

Michael Banhidi recalls how anti-Semitism and racial discrimination spread throughout his neighborhood in Hungary.  

With the arrival of new testimonies and indexers, USC Shoah Foundation is advancing to the next stage of its Preserving the Legacy initiative.

Paul Barna speaks on the difficulty of emigrating from Europe to Canada in 1957. He reflects on his life in Montreal including his participation in the local Jewish community.  

Two months after her Auschwitz: The Past is Present trip to Poland, Karen Wells is more committed than ever to sharing what she learned and making sure the stories of survivors are not forgotten.

Jeffrey Langham oversees the management and the strategic development of the Institute's website. Prior to the Institute, Jeffrey worked at a Los Angeles-area design firm for seven years as a web designer/programmer with experience in print design and copywriting. He received his doctorate in English Literature from the University of Southern California.

The Holocaust collection in USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive contains nearly 53,000 testimonies; however, only a mere six of those testimonies are from survivors who were persecuted by the Nazis for being gay: one in English, three in German, one in French, and one in Dutch. There are other gay survivors we have in the Archive, but they were persecuted by the Nazis for the greater sin of being Jewish; Gad Beck being one of them. The meager number says a lot about the history of the gay men who lived through the Nazi regime and who came out the other end willing and unafraid to speak about their lives.

Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (MHMC) and Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto announced an historic agreement to have their testimonies integrated in the Visual History Archive as part of the Institute’s Preserving the Legacy initiative.

Albrecht Becker recounts the atmosphere for gays in Nazi Germany while Röhm was still in charge of the SA and how the relative freedom he enjoyed during that time changed dramatically after Röhm's assassination in June 1934.

In this clip from his testimony, Albrecht Becker recalls the circumstances of his arrest and a particular member of the Gestapo by the name of Gerun who may have saved his life.

Montreal, March 23, 2015 – As the world marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the Jews of Europe, the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (MHMC) and Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto are proud to announce an historic agreement with USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education to have their testimonies integrated in the Visual History Archive as part of the Institute’s Preserving the Legacy initiative.

Bella Fox recalls the terrifying experience of arriving to Auschwitz-II Birkenau from the Sighet ghetto in Romania. Bella’s testimony was collected by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre and will be integrated into the Visual History Archive part of the Preserving the Legacy Initiative.

Louis de Groot describes being hidden by different gentile families in the Netherlands during WWII. While in hiding, he attended a Christmas church service and remembers how the pastor urged the congregation to help save Jewish lives.

Free and open to the public, monthly Institute visits give guests a chance to explore the life stories of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides and to discover how their memories are being used to overcome prejudice, intolerance and bigotry. The public visit for May is full. The next scheduled visit will be available soon. Description:

Comcast subscribers will be able to watch USC Shoah Foundation testimonies and films exploring the theme of music on Comcast’s second annual Days of Remembrance: PastFORWARD broadcast.

The Center is now in possession of over 40 boxes of documents from the historic Martin Marootian et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company class action lawsuit.

Albrecht Becker describes how in the immediate aftermath of liberation Germans, including German Jews, were silent about Nazi atrocities in an attempt to return to a normal as soon as possible.

A Lecture with Dr. Wendy Lower, Claremont McKenna College, USC Shoah Foundation 2015 Yom Hashoah Scholar in Residence

Henry Morgenthau III talks about his grandfather who was the Ambassador to Turkey during World War I.

Nium Sukkar, an Arab eye witness from Deir Zor who describes seeing Armenians being deported to desert.

Raphael Zimetbaum speaks of his gratitude toward the Armenian people in Marseille, France. Along with his parents, he fled from Antwerp, Belgium, to Marseille, France, following the German invasion of Belgium in 1940. In Marseille, his family found housing within the Armenian community neighborhood, where they felt so welcome and were received with great affection. He states that he thinks that the sensitivity extended to his family may have been in part due to the history of the Armenian Genocide and the suffering the Armenian people endured at the time. 

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the first integration of Armenian Genocide testimonies into the Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation will release one clip from the Armenian Genocide collection on the Institute’s website each day for the next 30 days.

Haigas Bonapart describes how his two sitster took their own lives rather than be forced to marry Turks.

Main Line Reform Temple 410 Montgomery Ave, Wynnewood, PA

University of Pennsylvania Lubavitch House4032 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA

Har Zion Temple1500 Hagys Ford Road, Penn Valley, PAThis year’s program will include a survivor candle lighting, memorial service and special screening of the film Auschwitz. This definitive new short film, produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by James Moll and narrated by Meryl Streep, was created for the official commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The honored guest is Auschwitz survivor Israel Arbeiter, who will share his life experiences including his recent trip back to Poland.