Stephen Feinberg remembers always finding the study of history to be interesting and exciting. During his studies as an undergraduate and graduate student, he was introduced to the history of the Holocaust.

“I became increasingly aware that this was a watershed event in history,” he recalls. “Therefore, I felt that it should be taught in schools.”

On March 19, USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education gave a presentation about education based on Holocaust survivor testimony to more than 100 students, faculty, and staff of the University of Szeged, one of Central Europe’s foremost institutions of higher learning.

USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education was one of a select few organizations invited by the Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center to lead a workshop at the Day of Learning. The JFCS organizes the Day of Learning to help young people gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and patterns of genocide, and to inspire moral courage and social responsibility in the future. Its many workshops are enhanced by testimonies of Holocaust survivors and survivors of other genocides.

Contest challenges secondary school students to honor the legacy of Schindler’s List by engaging in community service inspired by survivors’ testimonies and showcasing their action in an IWitness video essay

Three professional-development videos for secondary-school teachers are now available on the Institute’s website. The videos, which average 25 minutes in length, delve into the theory and practice of using testimony for education and digital tools such as IWitness.

The weekend before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, experts from Yad Vashem, the Department for Education and Culture of the Jewish Museum in Prague, the Terezin Memorial, and USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education held training seminars for teachers in the Czech Republic. The Institute presented its Czech-language educational resources, which are based on the testimony of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses; the seminars reached teachers in the cities of Karlovy Vary, Ostrov nad Ohří and Plzeň.

After being honored as one of this year’s “Best Websites for Teaching and Learning” by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Institute’s IWitness website continues to receive major education endorsements.