News for 2015

USC Shoah Foundation is saddened to learn of the passing of Erna Viterbi, philanthropist and longtime supporter of USC Shoah Foundation.

Erna Finci Viterbi, a descendant of Sephardic Jews, was born in Sarajevo but fled Yugoslavia with her family during World War II. They were deported to the Parma region of Italy and interned in the village Gramignazzo di Sissa, but were saved from deportation to the extermination camps by the townspeople. Erna and her family were able to escape to Switzerland for the rest of the war. In 1950, they moved to California.

/ Wednesday, February 18, 2015
USC students have until March 16, 2015 to enter this year’s Student Voices Short Film Contest.
/ Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Seventeen countries, 28 states and 122 cities later, the USC Shoah Foundation 20th Anniversary Guest Book is officially closed.
/ Monday, February 16, 2015
Students are asked to engage with primary and secondary sources and construct a short video essay on the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism.
/ Friday, February 13, 2015
Kurt Messerschmidt is one of the most recognizable faces on IWitness, and his Information Quest allows students to learn more about his life and how he survived the Holocaust.
/ Thursday, February 12, 2015

I expected to feel an intimate and profound connection to Auschwitz after touring the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for the first time late last month.

After three consecutive days visiting and working at the museum, I was indeed moved. But the insight I was hoping for came from beyond the well-worn paths of tourists, from a source that hits close to home here at USC Shoah Foundation.

/ Thursday, February 12, 2015
Teachers gathered at Kigali Genocide Memorial for a workshop organized by the USC Shoah Foundation and Aegis Trust IWitness in Rwanda team as part of the Rwandan Peace Education Program (RPEP).
/ Wednesday, February 11, 2015
UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies will host Wolf Gruner and other Holocaust and genocide scholars in a panel discussion Thurs., Feb. 12.
/ Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Warsaw and Krakow with USC Shoah Foundation’s mission to Poland for the Auschwitz: Past is Present program, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

I had many unforgettable experiences throughout these four days traveling and meeting incredible people who are all interested in the work of USC Shoah Foundation and its mission of changing the world through testimony.

/ Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Pages