USC Shoah Foundation facts for kids
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| Founded | 1994 by Steven Spielberg in the United States |
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| Type | Research and Education Institute |
| Headquarters | University of Southern California |
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Key people
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Dr. Robert Williams (Executive Director), Lee Liberman (Chair) |
The USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education is a special group that collects and shares video interviews. These interviews are with people who survived or witnessed the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a terrible time in history. In Hebrew, it's called the Shoah.
This group wants these stories to help teach people and encourage them to take action. Steven Spielberg, the famous movie director, started it in 1994. This was after he made his movie Schindler's List. In 2006, the foundation moved to the University of Southern California (USC). It then changed its name to what it is today. In 2019, the group opened its new main office at USC.
Contents
Visual History Archive
The foundation keeps all its interviews in something called the Visual History Archive. Think of it as a huge online library of video stories. All the videos are digital, so you can easily search them. You can find specific parts of stories using keywords.
There are over 112,000 hours of interviews. This means students, teachers, and researchers can find whole stories or just the parts they need. Each story is carefully tagged by someone who speaks the language. Every minute of video is also marked in English. Most interviews are about two hours long. They were collected in 65 countries and in 44 different languages.
Over time, the archive has grown. It now includes stories from survivors and witnesses of other terrible events. These include the Rwandan genocide, the Nanjing Massacre, the Armenian genocide, the Guatemalan genocide, the Cambodian genocide, the Rohingya genocide, and the Bosbian genocide. A genocide is when a large group of people, often from a specific ethnic or religious background, is killed on purpose.
Researching History
The foundation aims to be a top place for studying genocide and personal stories. They keep adding new eyewitness accounts of genocide. They also support studies that look at real-world problems these stories talk about. Experts from many different fields use the Visual History Archive. They have taught over 400 university classes across four continents. This includes 112 classes at USC.
The Center for Advanced Genocide Research is part of the foundation. It started in 2014. This center studies the Holocaust and other genocides. They especially look at why genocides happen and how to stop them. The center holds international meetings and workshops. It also hosts scholars who come to do research using USC's resources.
Digital Studies of Mass Violence
Digital Genocide Studies looks at how large amounts of information, like the 53,000 stories in the archive, can show patterns in mass violence. It also looks at how people resisted these events. The foundation also holds yearly events. These bring experts to USC to give talks, show films, and have discussions.
The full Visual History Archive can be seen at 51 places in 13 countries. These are mostly universities and museums. The foundation also offers a way to get partial access to the archive. About 211 places in 34 countries have signed up for these smaller collections.
About 1,200 stories are available to anyone with internet access. You just need to register to use the Visual History Archive Online. The foundation works hard to keep the video and audio quality of each story good. They want to protect them from getting worse over time. With help from tech companies, they made a system to save the original videos. They turned them into common digital formats.
It took five years, from 2008 to 2012, to digitize the whole archive. During this process, they found that about 5% of the original tapes had sound or video problems. Some were even impossible to watch. Since there were few ways to fix old tapes, the foundation's tech team created new software. This software helped them fix both audio and video issues. The foundation has also created technology to help other groups save their old media. This includes the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and Warner Bros. Pictures. The foundation also has a team that adds to the Visual History Archive. They do new interviews, add stories from other groups, and train people on how to collect stories.
Learning and Education
The foundation uses stories from the archive to create teaching tools for educators. These tools can be used in subjects like social studies, English, history, and more. The foundation also trains teachers around the world. They show educators how to use these stories in fun and meaningful ways. This helps students learn beyond just reading textbooks.
IWitness is the foundation's main educational website. It lets students access 1,600 stories to explore. Students can watch the stories and use a built-in video editor to add them to their own projects. About 17,000 high school students and over 5,000 educators have used the site. They are from 57 countries and all 50 U.S. states. The foundation has trained over 39,000 educators worldwide to use these stories in their classes.
More than 200 educators have taken part in advanced training. This includes the Teaching with Testimony in the 21st Century programs. These programs have been held in the U.S., Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.
The foundation has other education programs too:
- Teaching with Testimony in the 21st Century – This is a two-year program. It helps teachers learn how to use stories and digital tools like IWitness in their classrooms.
- ITeach – This is a one-day workshop. It introduces teachers to the foundation's programs and the Visual History Archive. It also helps teachers create their own lessons using the stories.
- IWalks – This is an interactive program. It connects stories from the archive to real places where historical events happened. IWalks have been created in cities like Budapest, Hungary; Prague, Czech Republic; and Warsaw, Poland.
- Teacher Innovation Network – This system helps teachers from around the world work together. Teachers who join the foundation's programs or register for IWitness become members. They get monthly updates and can talk with other educators.
- Echoes and Reflections – This program helps high school teachers in the United States learn about the Holocaust. It provides information about Jewish people in Europe. The USC Shoah Foundation, Yad Vashem, and the Anti-Defamation League developed it. They hold free workshops for teachers and schools. Participants get a free 10-part Teacher's Resource Guide.
Reaching the World
Besides the Visual History Archive and IWitness, the foundation has a YouTube channel. It also has websites in 12 languages. The full Visual History Archive is available at 49 places worldwide. Smaller collections are available at 199 locations in 33 countries. The foundation will keep developing digital tools to save and improve the archive. They also want to make it easier for students, teachers, experts, and the public to access the stories. About 1.6 million people watch the stories every year. More than 1,200 stories from the Visual History Archive can be accessed by anyone around the world.
In 2015, the foundation added "Global Outreach" as a main part of its work. In just one year (between 2013-2014 and 2014-2015), the number of people reached by its stories almost doubled. It went from 3.6 million to 6.5 million. This number jumps to 15 million when you include media exposure, TV shows, museum exhibits, presentations, and social media. Global outreach happens through websites, documentaries, and exhibits. It also includes news coverage and shared content on social media.
- Every day, the foundation shares stories and blogs about its projects and people. They also post a new short video from the Visual History Archive.
- The foundation has many followers on Facebook and Twitter. They also recently started an Instagram account.
- In 2014, the foundation started a successful social media campaign called #BeginsWithMe. This campaign aimed to connect with younger generations.
- The foundation and Comcast started a five-year partnership in 2014. Each spring, for seven weeks, they bring programs to millions of customers. This is to remember Genocide Awareness Month. Each year, the series has a theme with a main movie. In 2015, the theme was Music. The movie was The Pianist, introduced by actor Adrien Brody. To reach even more people, the foundation wants to make more video content based on the stories.
- In 2017, the foundation started a campaign called #strongerthanhate. This campaign provides tools for teachers, parents, and community leaders. These tools help them "confront the seeds of hate."
Since 1999, the USC Shoah Foundation has welcomed volunteers from Austria. These volunteers come through the Gedenkdienst program of the Austrian Service Abroad. This program focuses on remembering the Holocaust.
Leaders of the Foundation
- June Beallor, one of the first leaders
- James Moll, one of the first leaders
- Dr. Robert Williams, the current leader
