A Child With A Hidden Identity | Louis Pechi | Jewish-American Heritage Month | USC Shoah Foundation

Holocaust survivor Louis "Lou" Pechi was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (Croatia) in 1934. When Lou was seven years old, the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia. Lou’s family changed their names, converted to Catholicism and hid their Jewish identity, allowing them to flee to Italy.

Lou’s testimony was recorded by USC Shoah Foundation in 1998.

Lou currently lives in San Diego, California, and actively speaks at local schools about his experience as a child survivor. Lou "contribute[s] his time to join the fight" against "antisemitism and identity-based hatred" in the United States.

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the innumerable contributions Jewish people have made to American life for over 350 years.

The idea for an annual commemoration of Jewish Americans originated with President Jimmy Carter, who in 1979 established a Jewish Heritage Week. In 2006, Congress unanimously passed a resolution expanding the tribute to encompass the entire month of May.

The celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month coincides with the anniversary of the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants in North America in 1654.

In the time since 23 Sephardic Jews disembarked in New Amsterdam (now New York City), Jewish Americans have added to American society in every conceivable way—be it as Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, in military service or as leaders in business, academia and the arts.

USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive contains more than 52,000 testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. In this first of three installments, we celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month by sharing the testimonies of Jewish Americans who embody the vibrant and diverse culture that has immeasurably enriched us all.

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About USC Shoah Foundation:
USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education develops
empathy, understanding and respect through testimony, using its Visual History Archive of more than 55,000 video testimonies, academic programs and partnerships across USC and 170 universities, and award-winning IWitness education program. USC Shoah Foundation’s interactive programming, research and materials are accessed in museums and universities, cited by government leaders and NGOs, and taught in classrooms around the world. Now in its third decade, USC Shoah Foundation reaches millions of people on six continents from its home at the University of Southern California.

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