The most requested student tour at the Maltz Museum is a Holocaust tour followed by a survivor talk. You can see the difference the physical countenance of a high school student before and after they have a chance to talk to a survivor—shock, admiration, tears and hugs often follow. So what happens when our cherished survivors who so generously give of their time and spirit to educate students about their lives and remarkable experiences, most of whom are in their late 80s, are no longer with us?
The Maltz Museum got together with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education (the nonprofit organization founded by Steven Spielberg to create a video database of Holocaust survivor testimonies) and EventWorks4D, which is right here in Cleveland, for a demonstration of “Pinchas”—the holographic presentation of Pinchas Gutter, a Holocaust survivor who was interviewed on camera for five intensive days as part of a very special project that the Shoah Foundation is piloting in museums around the country. You see, Pinchas understands the value and importance of people having the opportunity to interact with him and learn about his experiences. And while we all acknowledge that in-person interaction is by far the most meaningful way to connect with survivors, we also must come to terms with and plan for the day when survivors no longer walk the earth. How will museums and educators continue to provide students with engaging experiences that spark empathy and compassion and inspire vigilance against discrimination and bullying? The Shoah Foundation and many museums are hoping holographic projections coupled with voice recognition technology can be one effective answer.
“Pinchas” is programmed so that audiences can ask any number of questions ranging from specifics about his experiences in any of the five concentration camps to reflections on the lessons of the Holocaust. When “Pinchas” began answering the first question asked during our demo, there was an audible gasp among the audience, which was comprised of Holocaust education advocates, survivors and children of survivors. Even though he wasn’t actually with us in the flesh (Pinchas is alive and lives in Toronto), we felt his presence, his personality—he even sang us a lullaby, and it was profoundly moving. No, we couldn’t go up and hug him afterwards as one of team members involved in developing the voice recognition technology that makes it possible to interact with him tearfully noted, but we heard his story in his words and his voice, and we felt like he was with us. The idea is to capture so much data (filming from multiple angles to allow for the 4-D presentation and also asking thousands of questions) that it will be “future-proof”—that is, it will be adaptable to changing technological advances for decades to come. The world is so fortunate today to have video testimonies of tens of thousands of survivors through the Shoah Foundation, and this latest development is taking new testimonies to a new level of interactivity and engagement—one that will hopefully continue to move people to action indefinitely.
