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Holograms Preserve Holocaust Survivor Stories

SmackJackal via Flickr Creative Commons

New research by historians at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reveals the shocking scope of Hitler’s final solution that led to the death of an estimated 15-20 million people and the imprisonment of millions more. It’s an incomprehensible number—42,500 Nazi concentration camps, ghettoes, and labor sites were created leading up to and during World War Two.  

The average age for a Holocaust survivor is 79-years-old, and their carefully documented personal histories may just become that—a record. A new project is working to preserve their first-hand accounts as holograms for museums to educate future generations about the Holocaust.

Stephen D. Smith is director of the USC Shoah Foundation, The Institute for Visual History and Education, which oversees the hologram project, titled “New Dimensions in Testimony”. He explains what it will be like for museum visitors to experience survivor holograms.

To learn more about a traveling exhibit about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, check out a visit by NHPR's Amanda Loder to the New Hampshire State library where the exhibit runs through March 22.

Virginia Prescott is the Gracie Award-winning host of Word of Mouth, Civics 101, The 10-Minute Writers Workshop podcasts, and the Writers on A New England Stage series on New Hampshire Public Radio. Prior to joining NHPR, she was editor, producer, and director for NPR programs On Point and Here & Now, and directed interactive media for New York Public Radio.
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