‘The wheelset and shoe’

The challenge was to provide a clear structure and coherent narrative thread through a very large exhibition, without restricting the visitor’s own freedom to explore. It aims to be immersive and highly emotionally engaging, without being overwhelming; and to bring different artefacts together in conversation with one another, such as in this example of ‘The wheelset and the shoe’.

‘Fence posts.’

The audio tour moves beyond historical narration, encouraging the visitor to find personal connections with the artefacts they encounter.

Approaching the perimeter fence posts of Auschwitz, they learn about the Soviet soldiers who cut through the barbed wire and entered the camp – to discover the enormity of the crimes committed there. These soldiers were confronted with the same question we face today: how was this possible in the modern world, in the midst of European society?

‘Nazi rally.’

The audio tour raises questions that give focus and purpose to the visit, and then supports the visitor as they search for answers. It guides the gaze of the visitor, prompting them to look more closely at documents and photographs for details that might otherwise be missed, supporting them in a critical reading of the evidence and revealing new meanings, such as in this disruption of a Nazi propaganda image.

‘Tallit katan.’

In a story of atrocity, destruction and humiliation, the agency, resilience and humanity of the victims must be made visible. Visitors meet them as individuals responding to the persecution in diverse ways, not as a faceless mass of victims as the Nazis saw them.

The audio tour reveals personal stories behind the artefacts, the life before the camps; the struggle to preserve identity; and how those who survived tried to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of genocide.