From the safety of a headset, you can experience a German concentration camp.
Even then, it takes courage.
The Iola Public Library’s “Holocaust VR Experience” transpires through a virtual reality headset. Instantly, the viewer is transported back to the horrors of World War II.
Suddenly, you’re standing in front of the notorious Auschwitz, with train tracks stretching far into the horizon as you turn 360-degrees to view your surroundings. A woman appears in front of you, so realistic it seems you could reach out and touch her.
Her name is Fritzie Fritzshall and she’s a Holocaust survivor and guide for “A Promise Kept,” a short virtual reality movie. The VR program is one of two short films available at the library for a limited time.
“Holocaust VR Experience” is available Wednesday and Thursday, and from Tuesday through Thursday next week, from 2 to 6:30 p.m. The library has a trunk filled with 10 virtual reality headsets that offer the chance to virtually “walk” with Holocaust survivors through their hometowns and concentration camps.
They tell the stories of survival and what life was like during one of the darkest periods of history, with an immersive experience that feels as if you are right there next to them.
The VR experience is made possible by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. In addition to “A Promise Kept,” visitors can watch “Don’t Forget Me,” the story of survivor George Brent. Both videos are less than 15 minutes. The goal is to enhance Holocaust education with an unforgettable experience.
IOLA MIDDLE School sixth-grader Isabella McEnaney stopped at the library after school Tuesday and agreed to watch “A Promise Kept” and talk about her reaction with the Register. A few friends joined her briefly.
Librarian Leesa Cole handed out headsets and started the video, which played simultaneously for the participants. This Register reporter also watched.
Isabella admitted she didn’t know much about the Holocaust. She hasn’t studied it in school. She’s read some of Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.”
“I know they were taken, but that’s all I knew,” she said.
The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. In Germany between 1941 and 1945, Nazis killed more than 6 million Jews. Most were taken to concentration and extermination camps. Some of those who survived the inital journey to the camps were forced into labor or used for medical experiments. Most were killed by poison gas; others died of starvation and abuse.
Isabella said the film made her feel “very sad” and she was surprised to learn about the experiences of survivors. In particular, she was shocked to see the beds where they slept crowded onto bare boards.
“I knew it was bad but I didn’t know it was that bad,” Isabella said. “It makes me feel so bad that happened to people.”
