Page 4 - Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations

PREFACE
As we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Europe – and many thousands of Holocaust sur- vivors – from the brutal terror of Nazi Germany, it is worth reflecting on the legacy and message of Holocaust survivors.
Survivors’ testimonies live on through their own words as a gift and as a warning. By listening to the witnesses, we too bear witness.
Survivors have the final say. Hitler is gone, the Nazis are defeated, and the survivors continue to resist their attempt to wipe out memory, speaking their words of truth and insight. They tell their sto- ries because they do not want us to wait – they want action now for a better world.
We are grateful for their courage because their stories are foundational for our descendants to know the full turn of history. We are working together with International March of the Living, and with survivors today, to preserve and tell their stories in new ways. In years to come, people will still be able to attend March of the Living and virtually “meet” them in the very places they lived and survived.
Patiently, bravely, survivors are traveling to their places of memory, recounting home and hiding, ghettos and concentration camps, all recorded on 360-degree video. They walk and talk, stand and cry, laugh and sing, and enable us to witness history, all while giving a face to hope. They are our guide stars now and into the future.
To all the survivors who have given their tes- timonies, thank you for sharing your lives with us.
Stephen D. Smith, PhD Finci-Viterbi Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation, UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education
Left to right: Stephen Smith, Edward Mosberg (First 360 Survivor Video Testimony), USC Shoah Foundation Founder Steven Spielberg, with Torah rescued from the Holocaust.