We closed our 2020 series of online discussions with an academic panel about Holocaust memory and computer games, with our February event we now speak with individuals and organisations developing game-based activities related to the Holocaust and World War II.
On Wednesday February 17th between 4.30 and 6pm (London Time UTC+0), the Digital Holocaust Memory project welcomes games designers Jörg Friedrich (The Darkest of Times) and Luc Bernard (forthcoming The Light in the Darkness); Yaron Tzur (Ghetto Fighters’ Museum), Angela Shapiro (Gathering the Voices) and Brian McDonald (who have worked on serious GameJam projects), and daughter of Holocaust survivors, Noemie Lopian (who is thinking through how to tell her mother’s story through a game format). Our speakers will talk about some of the following issues:
What has their experience of developing games-based projects related to the Holocaust and/or wider Nazi history been so far? (from initial ideas through production, [attempted] launches, public responses etc.)
Why did they decide to create a (or some) gaming experiences related to the Holocaust and/or Nazi history?
What do they perceive to be some of the tensions or challenges related to creating a computer game about the Holocaust?
Are there areas of the Holocaust that they feel remain inappropriate to explore through gaming environments or experiences?
How can games serve as technologies for Holocaust education (from game producing to game play)?
To what extent are games a format that we need to take seriously in order to ensure the perpetuate of Holocaust memory in the future?
As usual, the event is free but registration is required via the link below:
Our speakers will begin with a 5-7 minute presentations each, followed by a wider discussion with all participants.
Our Speakers
Luc Bernard is based in California and is Director and Co-Founder of the independent games design company Arcade Distillery. The company has specialised in adventure RPG and strategy games, but moved into social awareness gaming with Kitten Squad for PETA. Luc’s Imagination is the Only Escape attracted international academic and press attention when it featured on crowdfunding site indiegogo as it was the first fictional computer game proposed about the Holocaust. Luc has recently been focusing on his mission to raise the visibility of the Holocaust in the gaming world with a related project The Light in the Darkness, working with an advisory board and co-authoring the game with Holocaust survivor Joan Salter.
Jörg Friedrich is a game designer from Berlin and co-founder of Paintbucket Games, an independent game studio that made the historical resistance sim Through the Darkest of Times. Before he founded his own studio, Jörg worked for 15 years in creatively influential roles on big production games like Spec Ops:The Line, Dead Island or Drakensang. Jörg is also a freelance lecturer of game and narrative design at a number of schools and universities.
Noemie Lopian Dr Noemie Lopian is the daughter of Holocaust survivors Dr Ernst Israel Bornstein and Renee Bornstein. In the last few years, she has dedicated her time to educating and commemorating the Holocaust, continuing the legacy of her parents. She has spent three years translating her father Ernst’s memoirs into a book The Long Night (The Toby Press: 2016). The Long Night has been featured on BBC radio and television and ITV News, in addition to articles and reviews in The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Express, The Jewish News and The Jewish Chronicle. Noemie will be joined by Dan Hett, who is working with her to realise a game about her mother’s experiences. Dan is an award-winning digital artist and writer, and creative director of PASSENGER – a games studio focused on unflinching interactive fiction
Brian McDonald is Head of Games at Falmouth University. Brian’s research interest are in the area of Game Jams, he is also interested in using Game Jams as a vehicle to explore more serious topics such as education, health and wellbeing and the Holocaust.
Dr Angela Shapiro is an Honorary Fellow at Glasgow Caledonian University and a member of Gathering the Voices (www.gatheringthevoices.com). The Project has interviewed over 40 refugees from the Holocaust who came to live in Scotland. Students and staff have developed 2 Serious Computer Games: The Arrival and Marion’s Journey. The games are based on the experiences of interviewees. Her PhD focused on engaging adult learners with independent learning and critical thinking to enhance citizenship.
Yaron Tzur is the pedagogic director at “Beit Lohamei Haghetaot” – The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum located in the western Galil, Israel. The museum seeks to tell the story of the Holocaust, focusing on the Jewish and universal human spirit in its many shades, and the possibility to choose – even in difficult situations. During the passing year, our museum has been in the process of developing new ways of interacting with our visitors – both online and physically at the museum. Based on our educational principle of active based learning, we have developed an escape room environment, focused on bravery of Jews in the former soviet union during WW2.