7 August 2025 press release

On Monday 25 August 2025 at 15:00, the mobile education project "For real? – virtual encounters with NS eyewitnesses" organised by the Brandenburg Museum for Future, Present and History will embark on its autumn 2025 tour. The exhibition will be hosted at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main at the invitation of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945. It will be launched in the presence of its patron, Michel Friedman, who is available for interviews.

The mobile exhibition is a nationwide educational project which uses virtual reality to open up new approaches to history education. Equipped with VR glasses, visitors encounter five Jewish Holocaust survivors - Ruth Winkelmann, Kurt Hillmann, Charlotte Knobloch, Inge Auerbacher und Leon Weintraub. The use of three-dimensional recording technology allows their stories to be experienced in virtual space. These digital encounters seem almost as vivid and authentic as if they were taking place "in real life".

The exhibition raises awareness of the dangers of antisemitism and racism. Young people in particular are invited to take a closer look at the history of National Socialism and its links with the present day.

The 2025 nationwide tour

As part of its 2025 nationwide tour, the project "For Real?" with its mobile exhibition will also be making a stop in Frankfurt am Main at the invitation of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945. The interactive exhibition truck will be stopping at eight selected locations between May and September - including museums, memorial institutions, educational institutions and public places. So far “For real?” has made guest appearances in Potsdam, Halle (Saale), Zwickau, Erfurt and Schwerin. The autumn tour gets under way on 25 August with the launch event in Frankfurt am Main. Stays in Offenbach, Dortmund, Bremen, Neustadt in Holstein and Ahrensbök followed.

“For real?“ as a guest in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library

In Frankfurt, “For real?“ cooperates with the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library. Together, the partners offer a varied programme which includes an interactive workshop for young people and events for teachers and multipliers.

Two projects, one goal: preserving memories – digitally and through dialogue

Like the project "Just Ask!" organised by the German Exile Archive 1933–1945, "For Real?" aims to preserve eyewitness testimonies for future generations and break new ground in the field of digital remembrance. The project "Just Ask!" showcases life-size digital interactive interviews with Holocaust survivors Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Meier and integrates them into an extensive exhibition. Visitors can question the interviewees with the help of AI, which allows more than 900 authentic answers recorded by the two eyewitnesses to be retrieved interactively. Both projects thus rely on innovative technologies to tell personal stories of survival, exile and persecution in a vivid and relatable manner. Traditional formats are enhanced by contemporary digital communication.

A joint workshop

The project teams responsible for "For Real?" and "Just Ask!" maintain regular professional contact and have already cooperated successfully at events and conferences in Leipzig and Potsdam.

During the tour stop in Frankfurt am Main, the Brandenburg Museum and the German Exile Archive will be offering their first ever joint workshop for young people:

Participants will be introduced to the exhibition "Just Ask!", where they will encounter the digital interactive interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier besides gaining insights into the technology that drives them. In the mobile exhibition space hosting "For Real?", they will use VR technology to experience five eyewitness testimonies in immersive conversational situations. The eyewitness interviews have been prepared in multiple languages – in Arabic, French, Turkish, Russian, Polish, English and German Simple Language - thus making them easily accessible to a wide, diverse public.

Afterwards, the young people will discuss the significance and impact of digital remembrance culture in the field of conflict between technological innovation and ethical responsibility during the course of a debate chaired by a media educator.

The workshop is almost fully booked. Available dates and further information on the programme can be found here

Under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Dr. Michel Friedman

“The outcomes of violence change, but the starting points of violence are structurally always the same. In the Germany of 2025, we are right in the middle, we have long since moved past the starting points. This makes it all the more important to learn lessons and apply them to the present day, not only by exploiting modern technology but also by keeping memories alive."

Michel Friedman has assumed patronage of the 2025 nationwide tour "For Real?". He will be present at the launch in Frankfurt and is available for interviews.

Michel Friedman has been cooperating with the German Exile Archive for many years, notably on the series "Friedman Asks", in which he discusses issues relating to the presence of exile with prominent guests.

Overview of details:

Press conference: "For real? – virtual encounters with NS eyewitnesses" as a guest in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library

Date: 25 August 2025
Time: 15:00
Place: German National Library, Adickesallee 1, 60322 Frankfurt am Main
Registration: To attend the press conference, please register by 19 August 2025. Please also let us know if you would like to talk to the patron Michael Friedman: presse@dnb.de

Course of the event:

• 15:00
  Welcome by Dr. Sylvia Asmus (Director of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945) and Katja Melzer (Director Brandenburg Museum)
• 15:05
  Possibly a short meeting with young people and a discussion of the workshop, experiences with "Just Ask!" and "For Real?"
• 15:20
  Tour of the exhibition "Just ask!” - digital interactive interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier
• 15:50
  Tour of the mobile exhibition “For real?“ and VR use with five Holocaust survivors
• 16:20
  Conclusion, opportunity for further questions and discussion.

Young people taking part in the workshop are expected to attend the press conference and may also be asked about their impressions.

Cooperation partners in Frankfurt am Main:

Brandenburg Museum for Future, Present and Past in cooperation with the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library

Further information about “For Real?“

What will happen when the last eyewitnesses of National Socialism are no longer with us? Who will tell their stories then?

The project "For real? – virtual encounters with NS eyewitnesses" offers one possible way to preserve the poignancy of narrated eyewitness testimonies for future generations. Visitors encounter five Holocaust survivors in virtual space with the help of VR glasses. The intensity of the encounter and the project's educational strategy and critical approach to media foster empathy and communicate knowledge in an innovative manner that cultivates a strong awareness of the importance of democracy and human rights. "For Real?" epitomises a new kind of remembrance culture in Germany – one that is authentic, compelling and forward-looking. At a time in which antisemitism and historical revisionism are again on the rise, the project is making a vital contribution to democratic education and social cohesion. The remembrance project is a response to the growing societal need to enable future generations to experience Nazi injustice in a vivid, authentic manner – especially at a time in which antisemitism and historical relativism are once again gaining ground.

www.in-echt-projekt.de

Project partner of “For real?“:

"For real? – virtual encounters with NS eyewitnesses" is a joint project between the Brandenburg Museum for Future, Present and Past and the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Sponsor of “For real?“

The project is funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) as part of its Education Agenda NS-Injustice and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

The projekt team “For real?“:

Johanna Schüller (Project manager “For real?“, BKG)
Dr. Katalin Krasznahorkai (Curatorial direction, BKG)
Julia Baumann (Education and communication, BKG)
Olga Preiss (Tour management, BKG)
Johanna Gehring (Publication, BKG)
Prof. Dr. Björn Stockleben (VR development, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)
Sophie Tummescheit (Evaluation, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)
Paulina Roth, Andrea Glaß and Nadine Redlich (Marketing and communication, BKG)
Ta-Trung (Design)
freybeuter Manufaktur (Truck and exhibition)

Contact:

Andrea Glaß
Press and public relations
Telefon +49 331 620 85 49
Mobil +49 176 628 71 467
E-Mail a.glass@gesellschaft-kultur-geschichte.de

Johanna Schüller
General project management and historical support
E-Mail j.schueller@gesellschaft-kultur-geschichte.de
Telefon: +49 33162085-39

Julia Baumann
Pedagogical cooperation/workshop booking
E-Mail j.baumann@gesellschaft-kultur-geschichte.de
Telefon +49 331 620 85 48

More information about "Just ask! Digital interactive interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier”

The German National Library's German Exile Archive 1933–1945 has created two digital interactive interviews in close cooperation with contemporary witnesses Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier. The interviews focus on experiences of anti-Semitic persecution and exile after 1933.

The digital interactive interviews in the exhibition "Just Ask!" have been available to the public since September 2023 and place this new kind of eyewitness testimony at front and centre. The digital interactive interviews are presented life-size in the Exile Archive's temporary exhibition area. The result is a new type of digital encounter between eyewitnesses and exhibition visitors. Visitors have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with the digital interactive interviews. They ask questions, the eyewitnesses answer. The database stores more than 900 answers provided by the eyewitnesses.

The interviews are embedded in an extensive exhibition which employs a parallel narrative structure to trace the eyewitnesses' biographies from their upbringing in the tranquil town of Kippenheim through their experiences of disenfranchisement, persecution and deportation to their emigration to the USA and the lives they led there. Diverse points of contact are created by digital and analogue elements, audiovisual media and the scenography of the exhibition and address the visitors in their everyday reality. The exhibition encourages interaction and participation among adults and young people alike, and also sees itself as a laboratory in which various approaches to the topic can be tested and the opportunities and limits of digital remembrance formats discussed using the digital interactive interviews as examples. Along with the stationary installation, interested users can access a mobile version of the eyewitness accounts regardless of their location. The Exile Archive team has taken them to more than 30 locations across Germany.

The exhibition is accompanied by a variety of educational programmes which impart historical knowledge, educate the public on different manifestations of antisemitism and anti-democratic developments, and inspire them to integrate what they have learnt and experienced into their own everyday reality. This programme has reached more than 1,500 young people since its launch in September 2023.

Project team “Just ask!“

Dr. Sylvia Asmus (Project manager and Director of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945)
Theresia Biehl (Project coordinator and research assistent at the German Exile Archive 1933-1945)
Curators of the exhibition “Just ask!“: Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Theresia Biehl
Exhibition design: Framegrabber Medien GmbH, Hamburg
Artistic design of the animated Graphic Novels: Hamed Eshrat, Yaka Hara
Funding: The project was funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media Affairs and the State of Hesse as part of the programme "Hessen aktiv für Demokratie und gegen Extremismus" (Hesse Active for Democracy and Against Extremism).
The interactive eyewitness account is a part of the USC Shoah Foundation’s Dimensions in TestimonySM – The Institute for Visual History and Education: https://sfi.usc.edu/dit

“Just ask!“ – Digital interactive interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier

Monday to Friday 9–21:30
Saturday 10–17:30
Closed on Sundays and public holidays
Admission to the exhibition and the accompanying educational programmes are free of charge.

fragnach.org

Contact:

Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.