31 August 2023 press release

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. After almost two years in preparation, this special presentation will officially open on 7 September 2023 at 19:00 at the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main in an event featuring the two eyewitnesses, actor Iris Berben (reading) and pianist Omer Klein (music).

Artificial intelligence and digital formats are changing our lives, not least in the area of cultural education. We are seeing the emergence of new forms of access that are able to unite the present and past in an innovative manner.

The exhibition "Frag nach! Just ask! Digital interactive Interviews“ focuses on a new type of eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness reports are irreplaceable sources that enable us to experience history at first hand. They help us understand what happened in the past and raise our awareness of what is happening today. Soon, there will be no more contemporary witnesses who are able to share their memories of exile and the Shoah with us. Will this change our view of history? How can we preserve their testimonies? Are digital interactive interviews an appropriate format?

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.

A speech recognition software programme converts verbal questions into text data. The questions are then matched against the contents of a database by means of natural language processing. The appropriate answer sequence is then played. The database stores more than 900 answers provided by the eyewitnesses.

In order to record the interviews, staff from the Exile Archive travelled to the present-day homes of Kurt S. Maier and Inge Auerbacher in the USA. The recordings were made there in specially equipped studios. The two interviews took five days each, with those involved spending 8 to 9 hours in the studio every day.

The interactive interviews are part of the Dimensions in Testimony^SM programme by the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education, which is working in close cooperation with the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 for this project.

The exhibition
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. Unlike Kurt S. Maier, who managed to escape into exile after being deported to the Gurs concentration camp, Inge Auerbacher remained a prisoner at the Theresienstadt camp until it was liberated in 1945. In 1946, she emigrated to the USA since she was no longer able to track down any family in the place of her birth. Both of these witnesses and their families took on the challenge of building new lives in the USA, their country of exile.

The exhibition combines different perspectives: the chronological narrative alternates with the eyewitnesses' reflections on their own past. Visitors are also addressed in their everyday reality. Diverse points of contact are created by digital and analogue elements, audiovisual media and the scenography of the exhibition. It invites interaction and participation by adults and young people alike and sees itself as a laboratory for trying out various approaches to the topic. Animated graphic novels introduce the life stories of the two protagonists as a prelude to the exhibition. An innovative digital element playfully invites visitors to ask questions of the interactive eyewitness testimonies. The exhibition is accompanied by a succession of activities for purposes of cultural education. Participation in these is free of charge, as is the exhibition itself.

The exhibition opening will also see an online version of the interactive interview with Kurt S. Maier go live. This is mainly intended for teachers who wish to use this option in the classroom. Information and registration at: www.fragnach.org (from 8 September 2023).

As part of its "laboratory" function, visitors to the exhibition can also try out the extended reality application "Tell me, Inge..." (https://inge.storyfile.com/de/) using VR glasses.

The elaborate exhibition was designed by the German Exile Archive and Framegrabber Medien GmbH. It is curated by Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Head of the German Exile Archive, and Theresia Biehl, research assistant at the German Exile Archive. The project is being funded by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media and the State of Hesse as part of the programme “Hessen aktiv für Demokratie und gegen Extremismus” (Hesse – Active for Democracy and Against Extremism).

Exhibition opening: 7 September2023, 19:00
Welcome speech: Frank Scholze, Director General of the German National Library
Greetings: Dr. Ina Hartwig, Head of the Department of Culture and Science of the City of Frankfurt am Main
Greetings: Dr. Robert Williams, Finci-Viterbi Executive Director, USC Shoah Foundation
Introduction to the exhibition: Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Head of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945
Conversation with Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Dr. h.c. Inge Auerbacher, Dr. Kurt S. Maier and Karen Jungblut (USC Shoah Foundation)
Reading: Iris Berben, Actress
Music: Omer Klein, Pianist

Moderated by Doris Renck

Registration required at: https://www.dnb.de/zeitzeugniseroeffnung

Press tour
A press tour guided by the curators will take place on 7 September 2023 at 11:00. Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier will be present for this tour. Press tours can also be arranged separately. Registration at: +49 69 1525-1981

"Frag nach! – Just ask“ Digital interactive Interviews with Inge Auerbacher and Kurt S. Maier
An exhibition of the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library
From 8 September 2023
Monday to Friday 9:00 – 21:30
Saturday 10:00 – 17:30
Closed on Sundays and public holidays, also from 24. to 31.12.2023
Admission to the exhibition is free.

Visitors can view the exhibition at the times mentioned. The interactive eyewitness interviews are accessible with a host. Appointments can be booked at: www.fragnach.org (from 8 September 2023)

German Exile Archive 1933-1945
The German Exile Archive has devoted itself to the subject of exile for more than 70 years. Its extensive collection, numerous exhibitions and diversified educational programme all focus on exile in the past and present. Further information about the German Exilarchive 1933-1945: https://www.dnb.de/EN/dea .

Project manager: Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Leiterin des Deutschen Exilarchivs 1933–1945
Curators: Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Theresia Biehl
Exhibition design: Framegrabber Medien GmbH, Hamburg

The contemporary witnesses

Kurt S. Maier was born in 1930 in Kippenheim. When he was 11, the family Maier was able to flee to the USA. Part of his life story is not only the experience of exile but also the forced deportation of the jewish community of Baden to the French camp Gurs in the Autumn of 1940. His partial premature literary estate is preserved in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library. In July 2021, Sylvia Asmus interviewed Kurt S. Maier at his home in Washington, D.C.
Inge Auerbacher was born in 1934 in Kippenheim. In August 1942, Inge and her parents were deported to Theresienstadt, where they were imprisoned until the camp was liberated by the Red Army on 8 May 1945. The family emigrated to the USA in May 1946. In October 2022, Sylvia Asmus interviewed Inge Auerbacher at her home in New York.

USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education
With its Visual History Archive, award-winning IWitness education programme and research work, the USC Shoah Foundation fosters empathy, understanding and respect. The USC Shoah Foundation has now been reaching millions of people on six continents from its base at the University of Southern California for well over 20 years.
Further information about USC Shoah Foundation und Dimensions in Testimony^SM at: https://sfi.usc.edu/ and https://sfi.usc.edu/dit.

Contact

Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German. More photographic material from the exhibition will be available from 8 September 2023.