The USC Shoah Foundation is partnering with the American Jewish Committee on its program to document and educate the public about contemporary antisemitism, the organizations announced on Sunday at the AJC Global Forum in New York.

“Our partnership with AJC will enable us to reach survivors of antisemitic violence from all over the globe. 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,” Robert J. Williams, CEO and Finci-Viterbi chair of the USC Shoah Foundation, said in a statement.

The USC Shoah Foundation was founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994 to conduct and gather interviews of Holocaust survivors, amassing a collection of some 61,000 testimonies.

In recent years, it has expanded its focus to include post-1945 antisemitism, including the Oct. 7 terror attacks, as part of a project known as the Contemporary Antisemitism Collection.

The Contemporary Antisemitism Collection focuses on five main areas: Jewish communities in Muslim countries in the 1940s and 1950s; Ethiopian Jewish communities; North American Jewish experiences post-1945; Jewish communities under communist rule; and victims of antisemitic terror attacks, such as the AMIA bombing and the Oct. 7 massacres.

Williams told eJP in 2023 that the foundation planned to collect upwards of 10,000 testimonies of contemporary antisemitism; it has so far nearly gathered 100. 

“Again we face a new moment in Jewish history marked by a level of antisemitism not seen since the 1940s. Oct. 7 exacerbated an already growing pandemic of antisemitism that had claimed many lives over the course of the past decade,” Williams said at the AJC conference on Sunday. “Sadly the concerns of the victims have often been met with silence or with lies, making clear the urgency of our work. Because antisemitism did not end with the Holocaust, we have an obligation to document, preserve and share how these crimes continue to affect people today. In doing so, we’ll be able to better ensure that experiences like these are never lost.”

Speaking alongside Williams at the Global Forum, AJC CEO Ted Deutch said the new partnership would enable his organization to more effectively combat antisemitism

“Through AJC’s work all over the globe combating antisemitism, we have also seen the power of personal testimonies in not only changing hearts and minds but also in winning support for policies that protect Jewish communities,” Deutch said. “The USC Shoah Foundation’s collection of testimonies will forever capture the personal experiences of thousands of Jewish people, enabling us to tell our story, and share it with generations to come.”