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Steven Spielberg launches USC Shoah Foundation's IWitness Video Challenge

By April MacIntyre Feb 28, 2013, 15:38 GMT

Steven Spielberg during the "Lincoln" Madrid Photocall. Picture copyright by Solarpix / PR Photos.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg announced the launch of the USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Video Challenge.

“I implore educators not to allow the Holocaust to be a footnote in history, please teach this in your schools. There are 350,000 experts who just want to be useful for the remainder of their lives.  Please listen to the words and the echoes and the ghosts and please teach this in your schools.” - Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg, USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Dr. Stephen Smith and USC Shoah Foundation Director of Education Dr. Kori Street commemorated the Schindler’s List 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Blu-ray release with the global launch of the USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Video Challenge on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at The Chandler School in Pasadena, CA.

From the press release:

IWitness Video Challenge is an online program from the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education aimed at middle and high school students that brings thousands of taped testimonies of Holocaust survivors into the classroom for guided exploration, connecting kids with the past while engaging them in the present.  For more information, please visit http://iwitness.usc.edu

Inspired by the experience of making Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg established the USC Shoah Foundation in 1994 to videotape interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust.

Since the Foundation's inception, nearly 52,000 eyewitness testimonies have been recorded in 56 countries and in 32 languages. Today the Institute is committed to teaching with testimony, endeavoring to make the power of each story accessible to students, educators, scholars, and the general public on every continent. A powerful reminder of the heroism and humanity of those willing to stand up against intolerance, Schindler’s List will be available for the first time on Blu-ray™ on March 5, 2013.