Holocaust exhibit opens with survivors in 3D

A new exhibition which shows Holocaust survivors appearing as life-size 3D holograms to answer children’s questions has opened in Nottinghamshire.

Ten survivors were filmed answering more than 1,400 of the most common questions children ask. The resulting holograms now take centre-stage at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum near Newark and will continue to do so long after the survivors have themselves passed away.

Software created to support the exhibition, called the Forever Project, instantly matches a question to one already posed to the people they are questioning, resulting in an immediate answer from a survivor.

Phil Lyons, chief executive at the centre, said: “The individual dimension makes children’s understanding of the Holocaust real and more meaningful. Survivors are key to what we do, and the question we faced was how we go beyond the time when first-hand testimonies are no longer available to us.”

The exhibition, which is hoping to tour, is open to school trips now, and to the public from February.

The centre used 4K cameras to film the survivors to create seven terabytes’ worth of pre-recorded answers. To keep it feeling realistic, technicians chose to keep the survivors’ coughs and pauses in, even showing them drinking water in between questions.

The survivors are now set to help educate hundreds of thousands of children across the country.