USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
Encyclopedia
The USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, formerly Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, is a nonprofit organization established by Steven Spielberg
in 1994, one year after completing the Academy Award
-winning film Schindler's List
. The original aim of the Foundation was to record testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust (which in Hebrew
is called the Shoah
) as a collection of videotaped interviews.
The Foundation conducted nearly 52,000 interviews between 1994 and 1999. Interviewees included Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics
policies, and war crimes trials participants.
In January 2006, the Foundation partnered with and relocated to the University of Southern California
and was renamed the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. Its mission is "to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry - and the suffering they cause - through the educational use of the Institute's visual history testimonies."
The Institute works within USC and with partners around the world to advance scholarship and research (for example with the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
), to provide resources and online tools for educators, and to disseminate the testimonies in its archive for educational purposes. In addition to preserving the testimonies, the Institute helps document the stories of survivors and other witnesses of other genocides. Currently, the Institute is working with the Rwandan organization IBUKA to begin a project to collect testimony from survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that claimed as many as one million lives. Once collected and indexed, the testimony will be incorporated into the Visual History Archive, which contains all testimony previously collected by the Institute.
, Honorary Chair
Edgar M. Bronfman, Honorary Co-chair
Renée Crown, Honorary Co-chair
Lew Wasserman
, Honorary Co-chair in Memoriam
Wallis Annenberg
Russel Bernard
Gerald Breslauer
Jerome Coben
Stephen Cozen
Susan Crown
David Eisman
Phyllis Epstein
Emanuel Gerard
Andrea Gordon
Douglas Greenberg
Eric Greenberg
Yossie Hollander
Robert Katz
William Lauder
Lee Liberman
Skip Paul
Bruce Ramer
Harry Robinson
Michael Rutman
Mickey Shapiro
Jerry Speyer
Erna Viterbi
Casey Wasserman
Harold Williams
Sam Gustman, Chief Technology Officer
Karen Jungblut, Director of Research and Documentation
Steven Klappholz, Executive Director of Development
Ari Zev, Director of Administration
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
in 1994, one year after completing the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning film Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
. The original aim of the Foundation was to record testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust (which in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
is called the Shoah
Shoah
Shoah may refer to:*The Holocaust*Shoah , documentary directed by Claude Lanzmann * A Shoah Foundation...
) as a collection of videotaped interviews.
The Foundation conducted nearly 52,000 interviews between 1994 and 1999. Interviewees included Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
policies, and war crimes trials participants.
In January 2006, the Foundation partnered with and relocated to the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and was renamed the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. Its mission is "to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry - and the suffering they cause - through the educational use of the Institute's visual history testimonies."
The Institute works within USC and with partners around the world to advance scholarship and research (for example with the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service is an alternative to Austria's compulsory national military service / alternative service founded in 1992. Since 1998 it is part of the Austrian Service Abroad...
), to provide resources and online tools for educators, and to disseminate the testimonies in its archive for educational purposes. In addition to preserving the testimonies, the Institute helps document the stories of survivors and other witnesses of other genocides. Currently, the Institute is working with the Rwandan organization IBUKA to begin a project to collect testimony from survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that claimed as many as one million lives. Once collected and indexed, the testimony will be incorporated into the Visual History Archive, which contains all testimony previously collected by the Institute.
Board of Councilors
Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Honorary Chair
Edgar M. Bronfman, Honorary Co-chair
Renée Crown, Honorary Co-chair
Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman
Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades...
, Honorary Co-chair in Memoriam
Wallis Annenberg
Wallis Annenberg
Wallis Huberta Annenberg is an American socialite. She is the daughter of the late American Billionaire, Ambassador Walter Hubert Annenberg...
Russel Bernard
Gerald Breslauer
Jerome Coben
Stephen Cozen
Susan Crown
Susan Crown
Susan Crown is an executive, foundation chair, and community activist in Chicago.Crown is Chairman of the Executive Committee of Illinois Tool Works, a diversified manufacturer of engineered products and specialty systems...
David Eisman
Phyllis Epstein
Emanuel Gerard
Andrea Gordon
Douglas Greenberg
Douglas Greenberg
Douglas Greenberg is Executive Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the New Brunswick Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey...
Eric Greenberg
Yossie Hollander
Robert Katz
Robert Katz
Robert Katz was an American novelist, screenwriter, and non-fiction author.Katz was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Sidney and Helen Katz, née Holland, and married Beverly Gerstel on September 22, 1957...
William Lauder
William Lauder
William Lauder is the name of:*William de Lawedre , bishop of Glasgow*William Lauder , poet*William Lauder , forger*William P. Lauder, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc....
Lee Liberman
Skip Paul
Bruce Ramer
Harry Robinson
Michael Rutman
Mickey Shapiro
Jerry Speyer
Jerry Speyer
Jerry I. Speyer is an American real estate tycoon. He is one of two founding partners of the prominent New York real estate company Tishman Speyer...
Erna Viterbi
Casey Wasserman
Casey Wasserman
Casey Wasserman is an entertainment executive, sports agent executive and owner of the former Arena League football team, the Los Angeles Avengers. Born Casey Meyer, he is the son of the Los Angeles socialite and philanthropist Lynne Wasserman. Casey's parents were divorced and he took his...
Harold Williams
Harold Williams
Harold Williams, M.Sc, Ph.D, FRSC was one of the premier field geologists in the history of geology and the foremost expert on the Appalachian Mountains of North America...
Executive Staff
Kim Simon, Director of Programs and Interim Executive DirectorSam Gustman, Chief Technology Officer
Karen Jungblut, Director of Research and Documentation
Steven Klappholz, Executive Director of Development
Ari Zev, Director of Administration