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USC Shoah Foundation & Zikaron BaSalon

Bringing Testimony Home
They Shared Their Stories.  Now It’s Your Turn.
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It was not easy for the more than 52,000 Holocaust survivors and witnesses in our Visual History Archive to tell their stories. But they did so nonetheless, because they understood the importance of preserving these painful memories for future generations.

 

We have now become those future generations, and in a world still combatting hatred and intolerance, it is our responsibility to carry survivors’ stories of strength and resilience forward.

How Zikaron BaSalon/Bringing Testimony Home works

  • You invite friends and family to an in-person or online gathering on or around Yom HaShoah (April 27 and 28, 2022).

  • We provide you with a kit including hosting tips, an abridged testimony from the Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation, educational material and discussion prompts. 

  • You host a Yom HaShoah commemoration that is personal, meaningful, and impactful.
     

Sign up to get a kit and host Zikaron BaSalon/Bringing Testimony Home

Why This Partnership?

Until now, Zikaron BaSalon has mostly relied on survivors to tell their stories, or on children or grandchildren to share their family stories. Zikaron BaSalon hosts will continue to invite survivors to speak whenever and wherever they can, but as the years pass, that opportunity will only become rarer.  

 

USC Shoah Foundation, are the caretakers of a treasure of 52,000 testimonies of survivors of and witnesses to the Holocaust, testimonies that reach millions of classrooms and museums around the world. By integrating interviews from the  Visual History Archive into the Zikaron BaSalon model, we can:

  • Ensure that the voices of survivors will be heard, understood, discussed and perpetuated for generations.  

  • Reach locations where survivors don’t live, or where people are not connected to living survivors. 

  • Cover the full range of survivor experiences.

  • Ease the transition to the coming age when there are no longer living survivors. 

  • Give more people the opportunity to fulfill their responsibility to keep the memories alive, relevant, and instructive.

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Read more: "New Partnership Brings Survivor Voices Into Hearts and Homes."

What does hosting involve?

You invite as many friends and family as you want to an in-person or online gathering. We provide a kit that includes: 

  • A 30-45 minute abridged testimony with a self-contained narrative, plus the full testimony for later viewing

  • Educational material to provide context and scaffolding

  • Prompts for discussion and ideas for your guests to take home to discuss with others

  • Tutorials and support for hosts

FAQs

Does it cost anything to host?

We do not charge hosts to participate. You might want to provide some light refreshments for your guests.  

 

Can I pick any testimony I want?

We have a limited selection of abridged testimonies available in English, Hebrew and Spanish. We will send you one of those. We hope to add more testimonies in the future. 

 

I love this program and would like to use my relative's testimony at a salon. Can I do that?

We encourage you to take advantage of the edited testimonies and support material we have developed for the salons. The discussion period following the testimony offers you a wonderful opportunity to discuss your family's experience, and to encourage your guests to do the same.

 

I would like to host my friend’s grandmother to speak instead of using testimony. How do I do that?

We encourage whatever kind of gathering works best for you. You can sign up here

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