What’s Inside Winter 2006 Echoes and Reflections THE NEWSLETTER OF SURVIVORS OF THE SHOAH VISUAL HISTORY FOUNDATION® 2 New multimedia curriculum on the Holocaust created by the Anti-Defamation League, the Shoah Foundation and Yad Vashem A Southern Initiative 8 Jackson, Mississippi, acquires a collection of testimonies, and implements the Shoah Foundation’s community- based Testimony to Tolerance Initiative The Shoah Foundation is moving to the University of Southern California. On Course with USC The Shoah Foundation becomes Please note our new contact information, starting January 1, 2006 10 the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education Leavey Library Visual History on the Horizon University of Southern California 14 A grassroots visual history 650 W. 35th Street, Suite 114 program brings testimonies to educa- tors in central and eastern Europe Los Angeles, CA 90089-2571 Main Phone: 213.740.6001 Department NL-W06 Post Office Box 3168 Los Angeles, CA 90078-3168 U.S.A. www.vhf.org Change Service Requested F OUNDATION N EWS A New Beginning Winter 2006 On the Cover By Douglas Greenberg The Shoah Foundation moves to USC, and singular collection is a formidable undertaking of Michigan. We hope soon to extend access becomes the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for that could not have been achieved without to the full archive to as many as a dozen addi- Visual History and Education. The Institute will USC’s vision and commitment. tional institutions on the network. When the Shoah Foundation be part of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, conducted its first test interview with a The materials in the Foundation’s archive are In addition, if funding permits, the Institute and housed on USC’s Los Angeles campus. Holocaust survivor on April 18, 1994, a race essential primary sources for scholarship and expects to be even more ambitious in develop- against time began: to capture on video as education. Like all such collections, their effec- ing educational activities and partnerships in The University of California, under this landmark agreement, guarantees the many stories as possible before it was too tiveness depends upon a dedicated community this country and in other parts of the world. perpetual preservation of the Shoah Foundation’s repository of 52,000 testimonies late. Nearly 12 years and 52,000 interviews of researchers and teachers prepared to mine This includes expanding the scope of our of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. later, we are running yet another race against and utilize them to advance research and edu- archive to document the experiences of other groups. Just last month, we received funding The USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education will uphold One hundred years from now, historians who do research to begin this process. the mission of the Shoah Foundation and advance academic research and scholar- ship in the humanities and social sciences. See articles pages 10–11. I One hundred years from now, historians who do research about our time will use video as about our time will use video as their main resource. In the Photograph by Phil Channing their main resource. In the future, the past will be visual, and as the USC Shoah future, the past will be visual. Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, we will play a critical role in time—to preserve these testimonies, not cation in a wide variety of fields. As one of the enhancing opportunities for interdisciplinary just for the present, but also for decades to great American research universities, USC research and scholarship that draw upon visual come. It is a race that consumes us. It is our offers just such a community. history sources. moral obligation and our most challenging responsibility. This development is of great significance to us. This is an extraordinary moment in our short It offers opportunities for new accomplish- history, but also a tremendous challenge. We This January, the Shoah Foundation is becom- ments that we couldn’t have exploited in any know that your support and loyalty will help Founding Chairman Board of Directors President and Chief Executive Officer ing part of the University of Southern other way. Appropriately, it coincides with the us excel in this new beginning, and beyond. I Steven Spielberg Susan Crown, Chair Douglas Greenberg California. In our new identity as the USC completion of a momentous task in the history Russel Bernard Honorary Chairs Gerald Breslauer Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History of the Foundation: the conclusion of the Edgar M. Bronfman Stephen A. Cozen Vice President for Administration and Education, we will continue to pursue our indexing of the testimonies in the archive. Renée Crown Emanuel Gerard Ari Zev mission to overcome prejudice, intolerance, It seems only natural that the programmatic Lew Wasserman Andrea Gordon In Memoriam Vice President for Partnerships and bigotry—and the suffering they cause— work of the Shoah Foundation will also shift Douglas Greenberg and International Programs Severin Wunderman through the educational use of the as the indexing comes to an end. Eric Greenberg Kim Simon Robert J. Katz Foundation’s visual history testimonies. Peter B. Kovler Vice President for Development USC, a national and international leader in the Founding Executive Directors William Lauder Steven Klappholz June Beallor Most importantly, we will know that a piece digital library field, will provide the technolog- Skip Paul James Moll of history captured through the eyewitness ical expertise to support not just the preserva- Bruce Ramer Harry Robinson accounts of Holocaust survivors and other wit- tion and use of the archive, but also its dis- Founding Advisory Committee Michael Rutman nesses will exist in perpetuity. USC will pro- semination. Electronic access to our collection Karen Kushell pastforward Alex Spanos Branko Lustig Editor Laura Grunberger vide a permanent repository for, and ensure through Internet2, a high-speed private com- Jerry Speyer newseditor @vhf.org the perpetual preservation of, the Foundation’s puter network, is currently available at USC, Douglas Greenberg Gerald R. Molen David H. Strassler Design Leslie Baker Graphic Design 52,000 testimonies. The safeguarding of this Rice and Yale universities, and the University President and Chief Executive Officer Casey Wasserman Photos Niels Alpert, Tom Szabadi, Kim Fox, Phil Channing, Zoltán Vancsó, FilmMagic, John Livzey © 2005 Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. All rights reserved. Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation® www.vhf.org pastforward, Winter 2006 1 V ISUAL H ISTORY IN THE C LASSROOM Echoes and Reflections Setting a new standard for Holocaust and tolerance education ne year ago, three leading crimes trials, the issue of guilt, and the effects because students need to know that this is is clear that this curriculum will help them organizations joined of the Holocaust on children, give a thematic something that is still going on right now— satisfy their objectives when talking about forces to undertake an perspective as well. that this is not something that’s fixed in moral issues, dilemmas, choices, how people admirable and arduous “This curriculum is phenomenal,” says history. It’s something we can talk about, and treat one another,” says Wieser. “The teachers task: to teach a new gen- teacher DeAnna K. “Being able to break up we need to talk about it today.” were excited about the possibilities and very eration of students what [the study of the Holocaust] into steps and According to Douglas Greenberg, president enthusiastic about the product.” Ocan happen when prejudice and discrimina- having ten separate lessons really provides a and CEO of the Shoah Foundation, “This is The funding for Echoes and Reflections tion are allowed to flourish, and when great framework for teachers.” Each kit con- principally a curriculum about the Holocaust, comes from Yossi Hollander and his wife, individuals, community leaders, and govern- tains all the materials high school educators but it is, by implication, not only about the Dana. Hollander, born in Haifa and the ments don’t take a stand against injustice. need to teach the complex issues of the Holocaust, not only about the past.” Greenberg son of Holocaust survivors, is a successful The result is Echoes and Reflections—a Holocaust and also support the study of world adds, “Studying the Holocaust would be an software entrepreneur in both Israel and multimedia curriculum on the Holocaust born history, English, Holocaust studies, fine arts, arid and somewhat futile thing to do if we the United States. He first broached the of an unprecedented partnership between the and character education. Echoes and Reflections didn’t draw from it lessons that we can apply idea of the collaborative project more than Anti-Defamation League, the Shoah is modular, so educators can use just one to our own lives.” one year ago and underwrote it. “I look Foundation, and Yad Vashem. lesson—or even part of a lesson—as all the Teachers are encouraged to have students for this project by drawing upon its own vast As part of the launch of Echoes and more toward the future than the past,” keep a journal during their study, and numer- pedagogical resources as well as on other Yad Reflections, the Shoah Foundation hosted a Hollander says. “I believe that Holocaust ous journal topics are provided throughout Vashem resources, such as the archives, three-day training session for 50 ADL regional education can teach not only facts, but the curriculum. Some topics are specific to library, art collection, and on-site historians. staff members. They, in turn, were charged also principles. The job of Echoes and visual history testimony, and some are specific “Clearly, this partnership signifies the impera- with a mandate: to train high school teachers Reflections is not to give answers, but to to the other primary sources also included— tive to remember and to educate about the and other educators and school administrators raise questions.” such as poetry, art, diaries, and photos.