美国国家公共电台 NPR Illinois Holocaust Museum Preserves Survivors' Stories — As Holograms

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

For decades, Holocaust¹ survivors³ have told their stories to students and museum visitors in person and in videos. The Holocaust ended more than 70 years ago, and so every year, fewer survivors are alive to tell their stories. The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center has come up with a creative way to address this challenge.

SAM HARRIS: Hello, my name is Sam Harris, and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

SHAPIRO: That's Holocaust survivor² Sam Harris speaking with visitors at the museum. Actually, it's his hologram. He appears on a stage in a room set up like a theater. He sits in a red chair, wearing a blue shirt and khakis. Visitors can ask him whatever questions they want.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Sam, can you talk about the beginning of when you had to leave? You were forced to leave your home the beginning of the war.

HARRIS: The earliest that I remember the war coming to Deblin is we when sat around the table, eating. And I heard noises outside. And we ran outside, and there I saw airplanes flying and chasing these Polish airplanes. And I knew something was up. The Nazis⁴ were shooting down the Polish planes.

SHAPIRO: I spoke⁵ with Sam and the exhibit's curator, Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, about this project. I started by asking Sam what it's like to be a hologram.

HARRIS: Oh, my gosh. It's like being on the moon. It's brand new. I looked at it. Is that me? Is that the answer I gave?

SHAPIRO: To become a hologram, he and other Holocaust survivors each sat for hours in a Hollywood studio and answered nearly 2,000 questions about their experiences. He told me that process was often very painful.

HARRIS: They gave us a rest each hour. I had a T-shirt. And I had to change my T-shirt. It was always wet. You see, to answer a question, I always put myself in the position to where the answer was like watching somebody being hanged. And I'm really there watching it. And I see it. And I describe it. This goes on for five, six hours a day. And a lot of the questions are very intrusive⁶.

I talk about my parents being killed and the crematorium, people being shot. You know, I was just a child, so when Hitler came to my town in Deblin, Poland, which the war zone, I was 4 years old. It's painful. And you begin to resent⁷ it. But then what saves you is you do it for a purpose. You do it so that 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, people can look you in the face, ask a question. And by gosh, I give the answer.

SHAPIRO: Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, how does Sam Harris' experience fit into the larger project that you're doing here?

SHOSHANA BUCHHOLZ-MILLER: Well, it's a really important story that we tell. We're lucky in that the museum and the new exhibit that we have, we have seven survivors from the Chicagoland area that tell their stories and answer questions. And then we use this incredible⁸ technology that allows visitors to ask a question of the recording⁹, and the recording answers them. Sam has an amazing story about hiding in a concentration camp and being able to survive by being taken care of by his older sister. But we have other recordings¹⁰ that kind of give the breadth of different survivor experiences. So it's an incredible archive.

SHAPIRO: Holocaust education centers have had videos of survivors telling their stories for a long time. What do you think the benefit is from having this sort of interactive¹¹ hologram?

BUCHHOLZ-MILLER: I think it is really a game changer for us. I mean, while videos are so important and an incredible testimony¹², nothing replaces the testimony of a survivor who's in front of an audience and the audience can ask them questions. It really creates this empathy that we don't see any other way. And we are so blessed that we have that opportunity right now. But we're not going to have that opportunity forever, and so this technology allows us to ask questions of a survivor and create that connection in a way that we couldn't otherwise.

HARRIS: Shoshana, if I can jump in just for a second, I'll tell you what I see in this. You know, Spielberg spent a lot of money recording 52,000 survivors. But you know, there is something when I sit on that stage and the real life comes out and you see me as a person. You cannot deny that what I am saying is the truth.

BUCHHOLZ-MILLER: What has been amazing to me is that we've had students and general public come in. They watch an introductory film where they learn about the survivor's life, and then the survivor appears on stage. And there's usually an audible gasp¹³ when the survivor - the hologram appears. And then the first person asks a question, and the recording answers. And everyone seems to relax a little. And they're asking the questions. What did you feel like? What happened to your family? And I think the use of the word you is so important because they really think they're talking to this person. And the technology falls away, and it's about the story. And that's really what we want.

SHAPIRO: Sam, what do you think about the fact that people are going to be having conversations with you years after you've left this Earth?

HARRIS: You know, I've always felt the responsibility as a young child that maybe I was a witness, and I better share the story. I feel lucky to be picked to be that witness for the benefit of many of the survivors and those who died. And I really feel - I feel very good about that, Ari.

SHAPIRO: That's Holocaust survivor Sam Harris and Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, vice¹⁴ president of education and exhibitions at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

1 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

2 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

7 resent   

v.对...表示忿恨，对...怨恨

参考例句：

• I resent his dictatorial manner.我痛恨他的独断作风。
• I resent comments on the impracticality of small cars.我反对说小骄车不实用的说法。

8 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

9 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

10 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

11 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

12 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

13 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。