”It is more important than ever that we remember the holocaust took place… holocaust survivors are getting older, and in about ten years or so, we won‘t be able to talk about it anymore. We want to leave a legacy.“
– Steen Metz
Inspired by this quote of our patron, we present an early insight into MEMORISE. A framework to help preserve Nazi persecution heritage. In this teaser, you can see the transformation of a watercolor painting by Ervin Abadi into a 3D scene. Ervin Abadi, was a Hungarian artist and victim of the Holocaust, who was interned in Bergen-Belsen. After liberation he remained hospitalised and created dozens of works of art depicting his labour battalion and experiences in the camp, including ink drawings, pencil and ink sketches and watercolors. The work was published in a collection of watercolours in 1946. The foreword of the book quotes Abadi, “Let these drawings serve as proof of my everlasting gratitude towards those to whom I owe my life. … To the soldiers of the United States Army, particularly to our immediate liberators, those soldiers of the 9th regiment who first entered the village of Zilitz and gave us bread, milk, chocolate, and cigarettes….”
We will follow this video up with short clips of navigating through the digital scene and accessing annotations deepening the insight into the daily life of concentration camp prisoners.
In the second part of our video narrative, we offer you virtual access to an interior scene of a barrack of the former concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen as remembered by Ervin Abádi. The original painting of the concentration camp prisoner can be seen here: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1111714.
In the third part, we will go into more detail about the daily life of the prisoners and how they had to deal with the issue of overcrowding. To do this, we will include quotes from prisoners‘ diaries available to the Bergen-Belsen Memorial today. Let us know if you enjoyed our little side project and what you think.
2 Responses
What is the primary motivation mentioned in the quote by Steen Metz for the development of MEMORISE, a framework to preserve Nazi persecution heritage?
Regard Telkom University
How does the video narration of Ervin Abadi’s Barrack Bunkbed painting unfold in part 1 on the site?Regard Telkom University