USC Shoah Foundation Partners with Living Links, First National Organization for Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors

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May 09, 2024, 09:00 ET

Powerful New Force Safeguards Holocaust Memory

LOS ANGELES, May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Living Links, the first national organization created to engage and empower third-generation (3G) descendants of Holocaust survivors, has joined forces with the USC Shoah Foundation. The new partnership will expand a Living Links program that teaches 3Gs to share their family stories in classrooms and with community groups to counter antisemitism, bigotry and hate.

At a time when the number of Holocaust survivors is dwindling and antisemitism is on the rise, 3Gs are uniquely positioned to offer personal accounts about how unchecked intolerance and hate led to the Holocaust.

An estimated 1 million grandchildren of Holocaust survivors live in the United States.

In 2023, nearly a dozen independent 3G groups that had formed over the last decade joined to create Living Links, a national network that offers grandchildren of Holocaust survivors social, educational and advocacy opportunities in a supportive environment that honors and explores their common and complex legacies.

"My parents' generation – the children of survivors – were often afraid to ask questions about their parents' experience, or unwilling to dredge up wartime pain," said David Wachs, co-founder and co-president of Living Links. "Sharing this unique thread of my identity is a powerful way for me to connect with others and to make a lasting impact."

In cooperation with the USC Shoah Foundation, Living Links will increase the number of 3G affiliates nationwide and expand the speaker training program. 3GNY founded the program in 2010 and has trained some 500 speakers and reached 60,000 students.

The partnership comes at a moment of urgency and peril, when antisemitism is being normalized throughout society, according to Dr. Robert J. Williams, Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation.

"Recent events make it clear that we need new and innovative resources for reaching the next generation," Dr. Williams said.

As it marks its 30th anniversary year, the USC Shoah Foundation continues to strengthen connections with descendants of Holocaust survivors, especially the families of the more than 55,000 survivors who recorded testimony for the Visual History Archive.

"We are thrilled to partner with the USC Shoah Foundation because we share the goals of preserving the memory of the Holocaust and building a better future," said Jennifer Loew Mendelson, co-founder and co-president of Living Links. "Their organizational expertise, networks, and expert guidance will ensure Living Links' success in becoming a vibrant, independent organization."

A lead gift of $1 million has been pledged toward a program budget of $5 million over the next three years.

For more information, go to https://www.wearelivinglinks.org

About the USC Shoah Foundation

Founded in 1994, the USC Shoah Foundation preserves and amplifies the voices of the past to build a future that remembers. The Visual History Archive is home to more than 56,000 testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust, contemporary antisemitism, the Armenian Genocide, and other historical events of genocide, crimes against humanity, and related persecution. It is the largest such collection in the world.

About Living Links

Living Links, formed in 2023, is an organization for grandchildren (3Gs) of Holocaust survivors and all victims of Nazi persecution. We believe 3Gs and a growing number of 4Gs have an essential voice in countering hate and keeping the history of the Holocaust relevant in today's world. Living Links is partnering with the USC Shoah Foundation to empower descendants of Holocaust survivors to create enduring communities devoted to preserving and sharing
their families' legacies.

SOURCE USC Shoah Foundation