JTA — For decades, the USC Shoah Foundation has amassed testimonies of Holocaust survivors, with the goal of preserving stories before they cannot be told firsthand. Now, with survivors dwindling, the organization founded by Steven Spielberg is expanding its mandate to collect testimonies from Jews about global antisemitism since World War II.
The Holocaust research center is partnering with the American Jewish Committee to collect 10,000 testimonies, the groups announced on Sunday.
Their collaboration will form a central component of the foundation’s Contemporary Antisemitism Collection, seeking to showcase the various ways antisemitism has manifested since the Holocaust.
“We must clearly show to the world — and preserve for the future — what antisemitism is, what it looks like, and the personal toll it takes on Jews around the world. AJC has seen, firsthand, the way antisemitism has morphed and manifested itself in different ways since the end of the Holocaust,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch in a press release.
The USC Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg in the wake of the success of his Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” is home to the largest collection of testimonies of victims of genocide, including the Holocaust, in the world. It houses over 61,000 testimonies.
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the foundation said it would take testimony from survivors. The new partnership widens the funnel of new stories.
Steven Spielberg speaks onstage as USC Shoah Foundation Hosts 30th Anniversary Gala “Ambassadors For Humanity” at New York Hilton on October 13, 2024 in New York City. (Noam Galai / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
“Our partnership with AJC will enable us to reach survivors of antisemitic violence from all over the globe,” said Robert Williams, CEO of the USC Shoah Foundation.
“In turn, this is a powerful statement that bringing the world’s attention to antisemitism requires partnerships built on a shared commitment to giving voice to the personal histories of those who have and continue to experience one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring forms of hatred.”
One testimony that will be included in the new collection is that of Daniel Pomerantz, a survivor of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and has been attributed to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
“The [Hezbollah] terrorists killed 85 and injured 300. These were my friends and colleagues. They were Argentinian Jews and Argentinians of all backgrounds,” said Pomerantz, who is now the executive director of AMIA, in a press release.
“Thirty-one years later, those responsible for orchestrating that horrible day – for attacking my place of work, my community’s gathering place, and for murdering and maiming dozens – have still not been brought to justice or held accountable for their crimes,” he said.
People hold up pictures of people who died during the bombing at the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people, on the 25th anniversary of the attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Another testimony will come from Antoine Haguenauer, who was attacked in Paris in February while attending a memorial for the Bibas family, who were killed in Hamas captivity.
“I was berated, told I supported genocide. I was threatened – they told me they would follow me home, leak my address, kill me and my family. I was assaulted – punched in the head from behind. When I reported the attack to a police officer, he told me: ‘You could press charges, but what would be the point?’” said Haguenauer in a press release.
Once completed, the collection will be the largest archive of firsthand testimonies of postwar antisemitism.
Antisemitism, and discourse surrounding it, has remained a central part of the Jewish experience. Last week, the ADL released a report that found that antisemitic incidents in the United States had set a new record for the fourth year in a row. Part of the trend was spurred by what the organization determined was an over 80% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.
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