Never Forget

One of the organizations mentioned in Society’s Genome is the SHOAH Foundation located at the University of Southern California (USC). 

USC Shoah is lauded for its commitment to successful archiving and data preservation, but the importance of the project cannot be understated: documenting genocide so that it is “never forgotten” through the creation of a permanent archive of individual testimonials.  According to its website:

The Visual History Archive is USC Shoah Foundation’s online portal that allows users to search through and view more than 53,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide. Initially a repository of Holocaust testimony, the Archive expanded in April of 2013 to include 64 testimonies from the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi Genocide and again in April 2014, to include 12 testimonies from the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China. All told, the testimonies have been conducted in 63 countries and 40 languages.

Preserving Society’s Genome is about keeping what is best about humanity, yet there is a debt to future generations to make information available about less noble parts of history.  I invite you to set aside some time to experience this powerful presentation of difficult recollections that have been recorded and are being preserved for generations to come.

Watch the video: Gerda Frieberg on Survival