Latest news with #IllinoisHolocaustMuseum&EducationCenter
Axios
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Exclusive: Holocaust museum adding Rwandan genocide to AI interactives
An Illinois Holocaust museum that uses AI technology to create "interactives" with Holocaust survivors is expanding its offering and including a project with a Tutsi survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Why it matters: It's the first-ever non-Holocaust interactive interview for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, Ill., and signals that Holocaust museums are using the technology to bring attention to more recent genocides. The big picture: The move comes amid rising concern that generative AI can fuel racism by amplifying bias from human-generated content on the internet. Elon Musk's AI platform, Grok, for example, has repeatedly used antisemitic language on X. Museums, however, are trying to use technology such as AI to create immersive displays aimed at fighting bigotry. Zoom in: The new interactive interview at the Illinois museum will feature Kizito Kalima, a Tutsi survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the museum will announce Tuesday. Starting Aug. 26, visitors will be able to interact with Kalima's testimony and learn more about the 1994 genocide and his harrowing journey. The project will be housed at a temporary satellite location in downtown Chicago's River North Neighborhood while the Skokie Museum undergoes major renovations. How it works: Visitors can ask Kalima a question and a museum staffer will type the question into a chatbox while an image of him on a screen looks back. "Then clips are made right based upon the algorithm, and it's keyword-based, similar to Siri," Kelley Szany, the museum's senior VP of education and exhibitions, told Axios. Kalima will respond, and if he doesn't know the answer, he will say he wasn't asked the question. Szany said Kalima was asked hundreds of questions in a recorded interview for the AI project, so he will likely have an answer to a question on the subject. Zoom out: The museum also announced new interactive interviews featuring Holocaust survivors Rodi Glass and Marion Deichmann. All interviews were developed in collaboration with USC Libraries, USC Digital Repository and the USC Shoah Foundation. The interviews will eventually be housed at the renovated Skokie Museum and will be unveiled on a public website later. Context: The Skokie Museum garnered national attention in 2017 after it unveiled 3-D holograms of actual Holocaust survivors and witnesses who could respond to questions from visitors. A museum employee feeds the questions into a computer, which then uses a tailored AI system that develops an answer, generates audio sounding like the survivor's voice, and creates a video of them image "speaking." The holograms can answer questions ranging from whether they believe in God to what they think about genocide, Szany said. Holocaust educators say the interactive technology is essential as the last generation of Holocaust survivors age, and scholars race to record their stories. Between the lines: While educators work to save testimony for Holocaust survivors, they are also including more exhibits on more recent genocides and trying to bring attention to ongoing ones.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
MCC presents interactive Holocaust survivor testimonies in new exhibit
Muscatine Community College (MCC) will bring history to life with The Journey Back: A Virtual Reality Experience, an interactive exhibition developed by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, according to a news release. Using 360-degree immersive technology, the exhibit shares firsthand Holocaust Survivor testimonies in a deeply personal way. The exhibit will be open to the public April 21-May 2 at MCC's Loper Hall. Participants will use virtual reality headsets to follow survivors as they revisit key locations from their past, including childhood homes, ghettos, and concentration camps. The exhibit is free and open to ages 12 and older. MCC Student Engagement Coordinator Trevor Meyers led efforts to bring 'The Journey Back' to campus after experiencing it at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. 'Listening to a Holocaust Survivor's story is powerful, but stepping into their world through virtual reality is something entirely different,' Meyers said. 'This experience allows you to connect with history in a deeply personal way—one that stays with you. The moment I experienced it myself, I knew our students and the Muscatine community needed that opportunity also.' The Illinois Holocaust Museum provides Mobile VR Trunks to institutions across the country, equipping them with 10 Meta Quest 2 VR headsets, synchronized viewing tablets, and other essential technology. Survivor stories Participants can choose from five immersive Survivor stories, each lasting 13-23 minutes: A Promise Kept – Fritzie Fritzshall returns to her hometown and Auschwitz, sharing the promise she made to the 599 women who helped save her life. Don't Forget Me – George Brent retraces his journey through Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and Ebensee, revealing his will to survive. Letters from Drancy – Marion Deichmann recounts her childhood escape across Northern Europe and survival of D-Day in Normandy. Walk to Westerbork – Rodi Glass revisits her imprisonment at Westerbork transit camp and Vittel internment camp. Escape to Shanghai – Doris Fogel's journey from Germany to Shanghai, China—one of the few places that welcomed Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Registration and accessibility Advance registration is required, though walk-ins will be accommodated as space allows. Participants should arrive 5-10 minutes early to check in and set up their VR headset. Because of the historical content, the exhibit is recommended for ages 12 and up, with parents and educators encouraged to determine suitability for younger attendees. The VR experience is stable and seated, with no movement required. Free parking is available on campus, and all MCC buildings are handicap accessible. For more information or to register, visit this event link. About the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Guided by its mission to 'Remember the Past, Transform the Future,' the Illinois Holocaust Museum preserves Holocaust history and educates the public on human rights and social justice. Through exhibitions like 'The Journey Back,' the museum ensures these lessons continue to resonate with future generations. This initiative is supported by The Kimberly Duchossois Family Global Immersive Technology Initiative, The Diana C. Hunter Trust, and The Spagat Family Virtual Reality Trunk Program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
11-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Skokie's Illinois Holocaust Museum to close during expansion, will add downtown Chicago site
Some big changes, in the form of construction, expansion, temporary closure and a satellite site, are coming to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie. Bernard Cherkasov, the museum's CEO, announced the Skokie museum will temporarily close in July for construction work to expand the museum and add an auditorium and other features. A satellite location in downtown Chicago will display some popular exhibits. To facilitate the construction process, the museum announced the Skokie building will be closed for about a year during construction, starting in July. There will be a partial reopening of the museum in January 2026 and a full reopening at the end of summer in 2026. 'We're doing quite a big renovation,' said CEO Bernard Cherkasov. 'We are expanding our visitor welcome center. We're building new bathrooms. We're building a brand-new, state-of-the-art auditorium. We are adding spaces for reflection.' The decision was made to close the museum during the renovation because, 'Some of this is going to be loud, dusty, disruptive work,' Cherkasov said. 'We felt that to continue to provide a world-class experience for our visitors, it is easier to shut down the museum for a short period of time.' Cherkasov noted that a large welcome center is needed because of how much attendance has increased at the museum. He reported that in the past two years, the museum has beat its single day visitation record five times. The welcome center will allow room for visitors to purchase tickets or wait to have their questions answered. That increased attendance also means that additional bathrooms are necessary. Cherkasov said the museum doesn't yet know the cost details of the expansion and construction project because they haven't gotten the construction bids yet. Once they have created a complete budget, they will share it and report how the expenses will be paid, he said. The museum will open a temporary downtown Chicago satellite location in July for about a year, at the former site of the Broadcast Museum. 'This year we mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and the end of World War II,' Cherkasov said. 'It feels like the world that we live in needs the lessons from the Holocaust now more urgently than ever before. To be able to open a satellite downtown where we can reach new audiences who haven't been able to come see our contents in Skokie sounds like an amazing opportunity for us.' Visitors to the satellite location will see Holocaust survivor holography, virtual reality films, and stories of survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides, 'showing our shared humanity,' Cherkasov said. The Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois was started by Holocaust survivors in 1981. It later became the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.
