The idea for the project come from during a trip to the United States by NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes in 2015, when she and TU President Professor Manfred Bayer checked out the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Chicago and experienced how moving an encounter with Holocaust survivors through a hologram can be. This triggered the minister’s idea that North Rhine-Westphalia also requires such a location of remembrance and knowing– a strategy that right away consulted with the unreserved approval of all those included, for the Holocaust and the suffering caused on Jewish people continue to shape German history even 80 years after completion of the National Socialist regime of fear.
The remembrance of these atrocities, combined with the call to raise one’s voice versus antisemitism and racism, stays one of the sustaining jobs of German remembrance culture. “HOLO-VOICES enables Holocaust survivors to speak. We need their authentic accounts in order to gain a sense of the suffering they sustained– and of the guilt borne by those who went along or stayed quiet,” says Ina Brandes. Because their stories and experiences make the fear of National Socialism concrete, personal encounters and discussions with eyewitnesses are of inestimable value. As just a couple of them are still alive, the aim of HOLO-VOICES is to use the remaining time to protect their stories for future generations and make them experientially available.
Technical and Journalistic Job Management at TU Dortmund University
Utilizing contemporary innovation, the initial video recordings of eyewitnesses are projected so skillfully that the quality of the display screen is comparable to that of a hologram. Artificial intelligence will make it possible for visitors to interact with Holocaust survivors and ask them questions. The AI will then figure out the appropriate initial reaction, which the eyewitnesses had actually previously given up interviews. At the Institute of Journalism, Dr. Susanne Wegner and Prof. Wiebke Möhring, together with student Fabia Lulis and the association ZWEITZEUGEN e. V., assembled an extensive brochure of questions in order to conduct additional interviews with Holocaust survivors in cooperation with TU Dortmund University’s media designers. The Data processing is collaborated by a team led by Prof. Mario Botsch from the Department of Computer Science. “As a leading institution of AI research, we are contributing our competence with great commitment to make it possible for young people to take part in dialogue with Holocaust eyewitnesses on an enduring basis. HOLO-VOICES has become an interdisciplinary research study project for us. Together, professionals in journalism and AI are dealing with historians to make an important contribution against antisemitism and bigotry,” says TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer.
The very first interview has already been conducted at TU Dortmund University, particularly with Eva Weyl. In 1942, she was deported to Westerbork, referred to as the “gateway 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-day innovation with AI is fantastic. In this manner I can assist ensure that history is protected. Particularly to young people I want to state: You need to know the past in order to help preserve peace. Stand up against intolerance, against disrespect, and versus deterioration,” says the eyewitness. 2 interviews performed several years earlier by the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 of the German National Library will likewise now be utilized for the hologram technology.
Supported by Foundations
Numerous sponsors have actually been secured for this task, which is distinct in Europe: the RAG Structure, the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Structure, and the Brost Foundation are contributing around 35 percent of the total costs of around 3.2 million euros. The remaining financing is being provided by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Exhibitions 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 exhibit “Request!”. In addition, the association ZWEITZEUGEN will curate the exhibit “Underground– Under Pressure” on forced labor in coal mining, developed in cooperation with the Ruhr Museum.