Technology Meets Testimony [TMT] – An international and interdisciplinary research network investigating the future of Holocaust survivor testimonies

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anja Ballis
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 448804276

Survivors play an important – albeit not unquestioned – role when dealing with the topics of the Holocaust and Nazi crimes. With the passing of the last survivors, the phase of them recounting and discussing their own life stories will come to an end in the foreseeable future. For some years now, the question of who then will testify in the witnesses’ place has been discussed in both the scientific community and the general public. Due to technological advancements, the development of digital 3-D testimonies – survival stories which are recorded in (stereoscopic or multiscopic) 3-D and equipped with an interactive component – is increasingly being considered. During recording, survivors usually answer between 1,000 and 2,000 questions. With the support of voice recognition and a language processing program, these questions and their corresponding replies are then processed in such a way that users of the digital 3-D testimony receive a stored answer by the survivor if their question can be matched to one of the pre-recorded ones.These forms of testimonies can be explored in the US (Skokie), the UK (Laxton) and Germany (Berlin, Munich). Until now, little is known about how this kind of technology-driven testimony affects students or visitors of museums and memorial sites.The proposed outcome of the international and interdisciplinary network is to gain empirically proven and comparative insights into the effectiveness of digital 3D testimonies. Since only a few researchers worldwide work on this topic, close cooperation between the US-American, the British and the German teams is highly desirable. During the four workshops, quantitative and qualitative instruments will be developed and critically discussed against the background of the various disciplines brought together by the network. These instruments will be used to prepare and conduct surveys at schools, museums and memorial sites. This way, a diverse set of methods will be developed to enable reliable statements about the educational value of digital 3D testimonies in comparison with analogue conversations with Holocaust survivors. Additionally, conclusions will have to be drawn for teaching on the Holocaust and Nazi crimes. In terms of the digital and historical discourse, theoretical insights into the interplay of technology and testimony with regard to visualization and interaction are to be expected.The results of the research network will be bundled in a publication with the topics (1) empirical tools and their effects, (2) consequences for teaching and learning about the Holocaust in different contexts, (3) theoretical framework of interaction with digital 3D testimonies. The results will be discussed at interdisciplinary conferences. Furthermore, the insights will be integrated into university teaching in the US, the UK and Germany.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks