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About

Across generations, the voices of Holocaust and genocide Survivors carry a profound weight of truth. To ensure these stories are never forgotten, the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center presents Voices of Survival—an immersive platform where history becomes a living conversation.

By blending advanced interactive technology with authentic narratives, Voices of Survival transforms static recordings into living human experiences. Through real-time conversation and immersive learning tools, the platform invites audiences to engage directly with survivor history—asking questions, exploring memories, and confronting the realities of genocide

Through this experience, users can:

  • Engage in real-time conversations with Survivor testimony.
  • Navigate personal histories via Journey Maps, Story Timelines, and Video Introductions.
  • Discover how people survived, lived, loved, resisted, and rebuilt.
  • Honor the dignity and individuality of every voice while learning the vital lessons of history.

Voices of Survival features Dimensions in Testimony (DiT) and Interactive Interviews. Dimensions in Testimony was developed by USC Shoah Foundation in association with Illinois Holocaust Museum, with technology by USC Institute for Creative Technologies, and concept by Conscience Display. Interactive Interviews is an initiative by USC Libraries and USC Digital Repository, enabling people to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews with interviewees. This project, a collaboration between the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, USC Libraries, and USC Shoah Foundation, integrates specialized display technologies and next generation natural language processing to create an immersive and interactive biography. Now and far into the future through both initiatives, users can have conversational interactions with eyewitnesses to history to learn from those who were there.

Funding for DiT was provided in part by Pears Foundation, Louis. F. Smith and Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.

Illinois Holocaust Museum’s support of the project is made possible by the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the John W. and Jeanne Rowe Foundation, Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz & Jill Chaifetz, Lillian and Larry Goodman Foundations, and in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity/Illinois Office of Tourism. Other partners include CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

The Voices of Survival experience was created by Sandstorm, bringing together user experience, immersive design, and technical development in service of the stories it holds.