Global Partnership Takes Aim at Rising Antisemitism

The USC Shoah Foundation announced a partnership with the Berlin-based Kreuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism (KIgA), a collaboration that will increase European access to testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides and create wide-reaching programming to counter antisemitism.

KIgA, founded 20 years ago as a multicultural initiative to fight antisemitism, racism, hatred, and intolerance in Germany, is one of the leading European organizations countering antisemitism. It has programs throughout Germany on complex topics such as antisemitism, anti-Muslim racism, the Middle East conflict, and the prevention of radicalization.

Building partnerships is essential to countering the global rise in antisemitism, said Dr. Robert J. Williams, Finci-Viterbi Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation.

“We are proud to partner with KIgA, an organization that leads the way in building awareness and mutual understanding and respect between Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and other communities in the Federal Republic of Germany,” Dr. Williams said. “We are eager to learn from one another about how to teach Holocaust history to new audiences and how best to ensure a future that reflects and amplifies our shared values.”

On October 25, 2024, KIgA and the USC Shoah Foundation established a formal partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Berlin, launching collaborative initiatives to combat rising antisemitism in Germany. The agreement covers three areas:

• KIgA will receive access to the archive of more than 59,000 testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust and other mass atrocities. The archive also contains video recordings of hundreds of survivors of the Hamas terror attack in Israel on October 7.

• The USC Shoah Foundation and KIgA will organize a joint international conference to develop new approaches to raise awareness of antisemitism, with a special focus on the important role of social media and its use to spread false information.

• The coordinated effort will increase the visibility of ENCATE, the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE), a network of 30 affiliated organizations established and overseen by KIgA.

“The USC Shoah Foundation's archive of Holocaust survivor testimonies represents an essential but underutilized educational resource in Germany. These eyewitness testimonies align perfectly with modern digital learning and public engagement approaches and deserve wider attention. Through cooperation with KIgA, we will expand access to these critical historical witnesses," Dr. Williams said.

“With this agreement, we can draw on truly poignant eyewitness material that makes the horrors of antisemitism very real and human. We are also expanding our network with a strong partner that has a strong international presence and will support and complement our work very well,” says Dr. Juliane Wetzel, member of the KIgA board.

About KIgA e.V.

The Kreuzberg Initiative against Antisemitism was founded following the attack on the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul in November 2003. Today, the KIgA is known and important far beyond Berlin. The thirty-strong team runs programs throughout Germany on complex topics such as antisemitism, anti-Muslim racism, the Middle East conflict and the prevention of radicalization. The KIgA's approach is always holistic: education, advice, and encounters are the three most important principles, whether in workshops with school classes or further training for teachers, advice for administration and politics or case advice for families affected by antisemitism.

www.kiga-berlin.org