A recent article in the New York Times says the Holocaust is fading from memory in the United States.

“Worldwide, the estimated number of living Holocaust survivors has fallen to 400,000, according to the Claims Conference, many of them in their 80s and 90s.”

The article talks about how museums and memorials worldwide are looking for ways to tell the witnesses’ stories once the witnesses are gone because “no book, film or traditional exhibition can compare to the voice of a survivor.” In response, these institutions are using technology, specifically holograms of actual Holocaust survivors telling their stories. By using technology for good, they are ensuring that our collective memories will continue to affect and inform generations to come.

  • At The Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation is developing an interactive memorial plaza where visitors will use an app that will feature survivors’ recorded testimonies. In one part of the plaza, train tracks that carried prisoners to the Treblinka death camp will be embedded in the pavement. When visitors step onto the tracks, the app, using geocaching technology, will pull up videos of Philadelphia residents “who were on those very trains that led to Treblinka.”
  • At the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, near Chicago, visitors can speak with one of seven holograms of survivors—a project also tested at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. Drawing on recorded testimony, the holograms can also answer questions in real time. Museum executives have said that ‘when the hologram appears it is so real that our audience typically gasps when they see it.”

Technology is amazing. As parents, we often focus on the negatives aspects of technology. Your kids are growing into adults in a world that is largely defined by tech. Get involved in your children’s online lives and keep them safe but also be an advocate for the positive sides of technology and teach them to use their Cyber Super Powers for Good!

Want to learn more about new stories that feature technology being used for good? Sign up for the weekly Savvy Cyber Kids News Feed. We search the headlines for the news that matters to Savvy Cyber Kids. Seen with a cyber safety and cyber ethics lens, these clippings keep you abreast of when technology is used for bad—to inspire you to be aware and make necessary changes in your homes and at your schools. Conversely, when technology is used for good, read all about it, celebrate the successes and bring these lessons home to your children.

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