In the Name of History

In preparation for his monumental film ‘Shoah’, in the 1970s Claude Lanzmann conducted interviews with survivors, witnesses and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Their stories, their voices, but also moments of silence can be experienced at the Jewish Museum Berlin on the occasion of Lanzmann’s 100th birthday.

The six chapters of the exhibition can be experienced as visual and acoustic islands within the space. Visitors find them intuitively and automatically hear the acoustic contents. They move spontaneously between the sound islands and through the entire exhibition. The historical testimonies, which are powerful in themselves, take on an impressive acoustic and emotional presence in the space.

Visitors receive headphones at the entrance, which they can use to experience Lanzmann's digitised audio recordings acoustically. Our intelligent AX Audio System allows them to be experienced in the room. Visitors do not have to press any buttons, but automatically experience the historical recordings as soon as they approach the various stations. In addition, audio signals are perceived binaurally, i.e. with different sound characteristics depending on the bodily position and head orientation.

Each sound island is visually marked by spatial graphics and a screen showing simultaneous translations or video recordings. The interplay of the various media and underlying technologies makes the exhibition not only a historically important source of information, but also an aesthetically exciting and seamlessly functioning space to experience.

The sensitive exhibition design, the originality of the recordings preserved in the sound design, and the spatial sound system enhance the presence and spatial location of the historical witnesses. This makes the recordings not only audible, but also emotionally tangible.