‘Alive Forever': Visitors Can Virtually Speak With Holocaust Survivor at NSU Exhibit

With the help of groundbreaking technology, you can now virtually speak with a Holocaust survivor.

The digital experience is called "Dimensions in Testimony," an educational initiative to honor and preserve the testimonies of Holocaust and genocide survivors. 

“It allows the visitor or the students to interact directly with a Holocaust survivor and ask them questions and actually get answers to their questions,” said Craig and Barbara Weiner, who curates the collection. 

The Weiner’s added the unique exhibit to their Holocaust Reflection and Resource Center at the Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern University. It’s a collaboration with USC Shoah Foundation and it’s the only spot in Florida with this interactive technology. 

“It’s the newest and only way to keep a survivor alive forever," Craig Weiner said. "Students of all generations will be able to ask and learn questions about the Holocaust and get advice from survivors about what we can learn from the Holocaust."

The immersive experience allows participants to ask up to 2,000 questions to hear what survivors and their families went through. 

Craig and Barbara have devoted about eight to nine years to create the center. As you walk through the doors, you can see around 250 original artifacts from concentration camps and from Jewish ghettos. The couple’s goal is to keep the legacy of these survivors alive. 

“We need to listen to the stories of the Holocaust and then we need to internalize and know that every day we need to be kinder and better people,” said Barbara Weiner. "People will pass through these doors and learn a very horrid time in our history but they will see what comes from evil and what comes from kindness. Many of these survivors say there was one act of kindness that helped save their life.”

When asked about what lesson we can take away from the horrors of the Holocaust, one virtual survivor had the following response: 

“The world is a very dangerous place. And we have to be on guard continuously against inequity because it is part of our being. We have to fight it on a continuous basis. We have to try and eradicate all kinds of racialism, all kinds of prejudice and I think that should be the lesson.”

The exhibit is open to students and the general public seven days a week, free of charge. 

For more infomation about the exhibit, click here.