The Testimony 360 programme has been unveiled by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) and is intended to support the national curriculum for students aged 13 to 18.
Most Holocaust survivors are now in their 80s and 90s and the project will allow students to continue to have conversations with them for generations to come.
The technology was launched by the charity this week at Sacred Heart Catholic School in south London and it is now available free of charge to all British schools.
It has been created using special “depth” cameras and real-time AI search technology to give students the experience of coming “face-to-face” with Holocaust survivors and having “natural language" conversations with them.
The AI can respond to up to 1,000 questions that a student might ask. AI understands the question and the virtual version of the survivor responds with their actual, recorded answer.
Virtual reality headsets also allow students to explore key sites linked to the survivor’s testimony, including their pre-war home towns and the concentration camps where they were imprisoned.
In launching the technology, the HET said: “Holocaust survivors share their experiences with thousands of students every year. But as survivors become older, fewer and frailer, we are rapidly approaching a time when this will not be possible, and where the Holocaust is no longer in living memory.”
The resource currently features the testimony of Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, with the testimonies of three further survivors – Susan Pollack, Hannah Lewis, and John Dobai – due to be added in 2025.
Manfred, who is now 94, was aged 9 when war broke out. During the Holocaust, Manfred, his mother, and his younger brother were deported from Germany to the Riga Ghetto in Latvia, from where the Nazis regularly selected inmates for mass shootings.
He was subsequently sent to a slave labour camp where his brother was murdered and then, in August 1944, to Stutthof concentration camp where he spent more than eight months as a slave worker. Manfred and other prisoners were sent on a death march before finally being liberated at Neustadt in Germany on May 3, 1945. In 1946 Manfred came to the UK, and has lived here ever since.
The four survivors each spent five days being filmed within a green screen rig, from multiple angles at once using special capture cameras, which give the feeling of depth and three dimensions even when displayed on a television. They each answered over 1,000 questions to ensure their virtual self could answer almost any question a student may pose about their experience of the Holocaust.
Powerful: Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg speaks to students at Sacred Heart Catholic School during the launch of the Holocaust Educational Trust's Testimony 360 resource
The technology is part of the Testimony 360: People and Places of the Holocaust programme, which has been created by the HET and designed to support the curriculum in years 9 to 13. The Holocaust is currently the only historic event which is compulsory within the history curriculum.
The USC Shoah Foundation developed the interactive survivor biography technology and has worked with the HET on this resource.
At the launch this week, Sacred Heart students were joined by Manfred, who was even able to have a conversation and interact with his virtual self.
He said: “This technology is simply remarkable – it feels close to magic. Never during those dark days of the Holocaust did I ever imagine that one day I would see myself, and my story, immortalised in this way. I have spoken to thousands of pupils over the years – perhaps now I will make it millions. If this is my legacy, it will be a truly remarkable one.”
Richard Price, a history teacher at Sacred Heart, said: “We have previously been lucky enough to have survivors speak in our school, but this will ensure that future generations of school children will get the opportunity to do the same, even when survivors are sadly no longer with us. Combined with the virtual reality aspect, it allows pupils to connect with the people and places of the Holocaust like never before. It’s really exciting to think about the wider applications for history teaching this sort of technology could have in the future.”
Interaction: The AI-powered resource can answer more than 1,000 questions that students might ask, using the real voice and imagery of Manfred Goldberg, which was recorded using green screen and special capture camera technology
Karen Pollock, chief executive at the HET, added: “While it is impossible to replace survivors, Testimony 360 will help to ensure that their incredible legacy lives on beyond their lifetimes, and that generations to come will still be able to have the unparalleled experience of hearing directly from a Holocaust survivor, and visiting the places they lived, were imprisoned, and rebuilt their lives.
“With the threat of anti-semitism reaching levels not seen since the liberations of the camps, this programme could not be more vital in ensuring that young people understand where anti-semitism can and did lead.”
- Any school in Britain can now sign up for the Testimony 360 programme for sessions to take place from September 2024. Visit www.het.org.uk/testimony360-signup