Shoah education first as extended reality (XR) experience offers interaction with survivor

An innovative partnership has made it possible to use extended reality (XR) to interact with a Holocaust survivor.

“Tell me Inge…” centers around 88-year old Inge Auerbacher, who survived the Theresienstadt Ghetto as a 7 year-old girl. Her story has been brought to life via a collaboration between UNESCO, the World Jewish Congress, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and StoryFile, a conversational video AI company.

“Tell me Inge…”  is a 15 minute-long experience, during which viewers have the opportunity to ask Inge questions about the featured memories, from her childhood, her time in the Theresienstadt Ghetto and later memories from her adulthood and reflections on her survival.

It can be viewed either as a seated virtual reality (VR) experience with a headset, e.g. Meta Quest 2 or Pro, or via web browser, desktop or mobile. The experience is 100% free and is available in both German and English.

Auerbacher, who worked for nearly four decades as chemist, travelled from her home in New York to Berlin for two days of interviews, answering questions in both German and English to create a database of video files.

She said: “We all want to stay alive forever I think. My life is a miracle and it’s my obligation for being alive to help. My wish is for every child to grow up in peace without hunger or prejudice. Now, I’m not great with tech, but  I love new ideas and we’re living in a different age. Children learn in a different way than I did, but you need to get them young! It has to be done with technology today. Let’s make it good stuff, make it interesting. Teach them in their voice and with the tech they want to learn it from. Teach them good things like tolerance to love!”

Stephen Smith, co-founder and CEO StoryFile, says he first got to know Inge, now a passionate Shoah educator, via Facebook: “Inge was NOT afraid to use technology to get her message across.  She messaged me almost daily on Facebook messenger,  eager to find the best technological solutions for telling her story. “I want to be one of those holograms”, she told me.  She did not need to be persuaded to do any of this.”

He says Auerbacher “has committed the story of her childhood to enable younger learners to encounter her in XR – extended reality – which includes being able to view her story in Meta’s VR headset, Quest.”

Tell Me Inge, was, continues Smith, “developed with younger learners in mind.  Inge was ten years old at the end of her three year ordeal in Terezin. We want young learners to be able to meet that little girl in XR on their screens and tablets, and in VR too, when it is safe for them to do so. We want them to be able to enter into her world, imagine her narrative, and learn with her face to face, from one generation to the next.   We want her story to be a part of their story too.”

Julia Reuss, Public Policy Director Central Europe Meta, said: “There is tension and deep complexity between representing the Holocaust and using immersive technologies in order to do so. The intention of this project is never to hide the complexity, but to rather ask questions, to challenge assumptions, to engage, and to ultimately reflect on the experience. We are therefore immensely grateful to StoryFile, UNESCO and the World Jewish Congress for being such strong and reliable partners without whom we wouldn’t have been able to bring Inge’s story to life like this today.”

Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism, said: “Everyone should consider what he or she can do to leave no room for anti-semitism and to keep the memory of the Shoah alive.”

Meta supported StoryFile with a grant that helped cover costs associated with the technical development, animation, and production process.

The experience is available online and free to a wide global audience via https://inge.storyfile.com