The idea for the job come from throughout a trip to the United States by NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes last year, when she and TU President Professor Manfred Bayer went to the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Chicago and experienced how moving an encounter with Holocaust survivors through a hologram can be. This generated the minister’s idea that North Rhine-Westphalia also requires such a location of remembrance and knowing– a strategy that right away met the unreserved approval of all those involved, for the Holocaust and the suffering inflicted on Jewish people continue to form German history even 80 years after completion of the National Socialist routine of horror.
The remembrance of these atrocities, combined with the call to raise one’s voice against antisemitism and racism, remains one of the withstanding jobs of German remembrance culture. “HOLO-VOICES allows Holocaust survivors to speak. We require their authentic accounts in order to acquire a sense of the suffering they endured– and of the guilt borne by those who went along or remained silent,” states Ina Brandes. Since their stories and experiences make the horror of National Socialism tangible, individual encounters and conversations with eyewitnesses are of inestimable worth. As just a few of them are still alive, the objective of HOLO-VOICES is to use the remaining time to preserve their stories for future generations and make them experientially available.
Technical and Journalistic Job Leadership at TU Dortmund University
Using modern innovation, the initial video recordings of eyewitnesses are forecasted so skillfully that the quality of the display screen is similar to that of a hologram. Artificial intelligence will enable visitors to communicate with Holocaust survivors and ask them questions. The AI will then identify the suitable initial action, which the eyewitnesses had actually formerly given up interviews. At the Institute of Journalism, Dr. Susanne Wegner and Prof. Wiebke Möhring, together with trainee Fabia Lulis and the association ZWEITZEUGEN e. V., put together a substantial brochure of concerns in order to carry out further interviews with Holocaust survivors in partnership with TU Dortmund University’s media designers. The Data processing is coordinated by a team led by Prof. Mario Botsch from the Department of Computer Science. “As a leading organization of AI research study, we are contributing our expertise with great dedication to allow young people to take part in dialogue with Holocaust eyewitnesses on an enduring basis. HOLO-VOICES has actually become an interdisciplinary research study task for us. Together, experts in journalism and AI are working with historians to make an important contribution versus antisemitism and racism,” states TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer.
The very first interview has actually currently been carried out at TU Dortmund University, specifically with Eva Weyl. In 1942, she was deported to Westerbork, referred to as the “entrance to hell,” as it served as a transit camp to extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was liberated by Canadian soldiers in 1945. “The modern innovation with AI is great. This way I can help guarantee that history is preserved. Particularly to young people I wish to state: You must understand the past in order to help preserve peace. Withstand intolerance, against disrespect, and versus deterioration,” states the eyewitness. Two interviews conducted a number of years back by the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 of the German National Library will likewise now be utilized for the hologram technology.
Supported by Foundations
A number of sponsors have been protected for this job, which is special in Europe: the RAG Structure, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, and the Brost Foundation are contributing around 35 percent of the overall expenses of approximately 3.2 million euros. The staying funding is being provided by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Exhibits to Open at Zollverein in January 2026
“HOLO-VOICES– encounter – ask – pass it on” will be inaugurated on 27 January 2026, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism, by Minister-President Hendrik Wüst at the UNESCO World Heritage Website Zollverein. At the start of the exhibit, the holograms of Inge Auerbacher and Kurt Salomon Maier from the German Exile Archive 1933– 1945 of the German National Library will exist, accompanied by the exhibition “Demand!”. In addition, the association ZWEITZEUGEN will curate the exhibit “Underground– Under Duress” on forced labor in coal mining, produced in cooperation with the Ruhr Museum.