The last living Holocaust survivors are dying. Can technology keep their testimonies alive?
In 'The Last Goodbye' at the Tribeca Virtual Arcade this month, the viewer wears a virtual-reality headset as a survivor recounts his ordeal at Majdanek. It’s an experience more authentic than 'Shoah,' its producer says.
I've done a lot of interviews as a reporter, but none like the conversation I had with Pinchas Gutter.
Gutter is an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who lives in Toronto -- and I spoke with a digital version of him.
Gutter was the first to participate in a new format being pioneered by the USC Shoah Foundation. He sat in 2014 for more than 20 hours of interviews, recorded by 116 cameras, and answered about 1,500 questions.
Pinchas Gutter sits comfortably in a chair, his hands resting in his lap, and answers questions about his Holocaust experience with ease.
His young interlocutors nod, cradle their chins and think of more queries.
But this is no ordinary Q&A session between a survivor and young people. Gutter is not actually there, though the 85-year-old may as well be.
In the spring of 2011, David Benson, found himself walking with his grandmother, Holocaust survivor Sidonia Lax, down the “black path” that once led to the crematorium at the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. It was Lax’s fifth trip with the annual International March of the Living as a survivor, with the Builders of Jewish Education (BJE) teen delegation, his first as part of a large family contingent with the BJE Los Angeles adult group.
Holocaust Museum Houston Begins Four-Month Exhibit of New Dimensions in Testimony
New Dimensions in Testimony will be on display at Holocaust Museum Houston until May 30 as part of the museum’s artistic exhibit “A Celebration of Survival.”
Documenting History: Survivor of the Nanjing Massacre
New Dimensions in Testimony Testing at Museum of Tolerance
Engage with interactive Holocaust survivor testimonies from New Dimensions on Testimony at the Museum of Tolerance.
A Lesson in Technology and Humanity
For six months this spring and summer, I had the pleasure of leading a team of staff and volunteers facilitating the beta run of New Dimensions in Testimony (NDT) from USC Shoah Foundation at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. I watched people of all ages approach the giant monitor displaying an image of Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, first with trepidation, then curiosity, then, at last, affection. Here are a few things that I learned about technology and humanity from the project.
New Dimensions in Testimony Begins Three-Month Installation at CANDLES Museum in Indiana
The fourth museum installation of New Dimensions in Testimony kicked off last week at CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. It will remain open to the public for the next three months.