LOS ANGELES — USC President Carol Folt Monday presented a rare University Medallion in honor of Holocaust survivors, whose stories are told and honored by the Shoah Foundation at USC.

What You Need To Know

  • USC President Carol Folt Monday presented a rare University Medallion in honor of Holocaust survivors

  • Folt presented the honor during a gathering at the USC Town & Gown ballroom, attended by Shoah Foundation founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Holocaust survivor Celina Biniaz, 92

  • The USC University Medallion is the university's most prestigious honor recognizing contributions to the institution

  • Monday's presentation honoring Holocaust survivors — more than two dozen of whom were in attendance — is in recognition of their perseverance and the impact of the Shoah Foundation

Folt presented the honor during a gathering at the USC Town & Gown ballroom, attended by Shoah Foundation founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Holocaust survivor Celina Biniaz, 92, who is one of the last living survivors saved from the Nazis by Oskar Schindler, whose story was told in Spielberg's film, "Schindler's List."

The USC University Medallion, the university's most prestigious honor recognizing contributions to the institution, has only been presented three times previously — to Walter Annenberg, Wallis Annenberg and jointly to Dana and David Dornsife.

Monday's presentation honoring Holocaust survivors — more than two dozen of whom were in attendance — is in recognition of their perseverance and the impact of the Shoah Foundation, which has compiled a massive digital archive of interviews with more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors in an effort to teach lessons about the results of hate.

Folt acknowledged that the presentation came at a time when "antisemitism is on the rise," and amid deadly Israel-Hamas war that arose following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in Israel that killed 1,200 people.

Film director Steven Spielberg speaks during USC's honoring of the Shoah Foundation with the University Medallion. (Courtesy USC/Sean Dube)

Spielberg stressed the importance of learning the lessons of the past.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," he said. "I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history, to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish. In the face of brutality and persecution, we have always been a resilient and compassionate people who understand the power of empathy.

"We can rage against the heinous acts committed by the terrorists of October 7th and also decry the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza," he said. "This makes us a unique force for good in the world and is why we are here today celebrate the work of the Shoah Foundation, which is more crucial now it even was in 1994."