What is "ARt. Dachau Concentration Camp in Drawings and Paintings"?

ARt is the short name for the "Dachau Concentration Camp in Drawings and Paintings. Art Meets Augmented Reality" project. The AR in ARt stands for augmented reality. This technology allows us to create a link between drawings and paintings that deal with the history of Dachau Concentration Camp and the actual grounds of the Memorial Site. The app can be used on a smartphone or tablet when on site and includes additional interactive elements. The web tour uses photos of the Memorial Site to relate the historical drawings and paintings to the site as it is today.

Who was involved in developing ARt?

ARt was created through a participatory process that relied on input from many colleagues who work for the Memorial Site. We are grateful to everyone who supported the project in myriad ways, who came up with creative ideas, questions, and constructive criticism. The Memorial Site tour guides, in particular, gave us great suggestions for works of art, helped with recording the German audio clips, and assisted with trial runs.

ARt is also part of the "digital // memory" funding program run by the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and Future) and benefited from the supportive network that sprang up among the projects financed by the scheme.

Last but not least, we worked closely with startup company ZAUBAR, which was responsible for technical and creative implementation. This collaboration was marked by a lively exchange of ideas about the educational work done by memorial sites and the possibilities of the technology at hand.

What is ARt aiming to do?

A Prisoners produced hundreds of drawings and paintings about Dachau Concentration Camp. Unlike the photos taken from the perspective of the SS perpetrators, they give us an insight into how the prisoners themselves processed their experiences, which makes them important sources of information. With ARt, we are using the digital space to unlock the Memorial Site on a virtual level. Augmented reality also lets us link some artworks back to their historical location, since they actually appear today at the places within the grounds where the prisoner artists set them at the time.

What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality is a way of interactively enhancing the real physical world through virtual sensations. AR does not replace the visitor's surroundings; instead, it superimposes images over the top in order to add to the environment. This can be achieved, as is the case in ARt, using drawings and paintings that are positioned in suitable locations in the three-dimensional space. AR technology is therefore a great way of visually blending recorded history and the present day – perfect for getting across historical content at memorial sites.

Have the drawings and paintings been positioned in the locations that the artists actually drew or painted?

If a building that is still standing today was identifiable on a work of art, we tried to position that work as accurately as possible. But this was not always possible, since large areas that once made up the camp complex are no longer part of our Memorial Site. We have mentioned this whenever it applies. In addition, former prisoners often did not set their artworks in a specific location or they kept, sometimes deliberately, their artistic recollections of their persecution and incarceration separate from the places where they actually happened.

Why are the drawings and paintings shown in augmented reality?

Soon there will no longer be any contemporary witnesses to the Nazi era left: a fact which has prompted those working in this field to look for new ways of imparting history. Augmented reality is one of these new methods; it is very interesting to people involved with the educational work done by memorial sites, since the technology offers some incredible opportunities for getting information across. Our previous project "The Liberation" (diebefreiung.br.de/en), which was developed by Bayerischer Rundfunk in collaboration with the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, was enough to convince us of AR's potential. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site conducted a survey to evaluate the quality of the app "The Liberation AR", with respondents saying that the AR effect was very impressive; they felt their powers of historical imagination had been fired up; the app brought the past vividly into the present day; and they were more motivated to learn. But at the same time, they did not feel the semi-immersive AR technology was emotionally overwhelming, meaning it met one of the key principles of the educational work done by memorial sites.

How were the drawings and paintings selected?

The images were chosen based on several criteria. The aim was to use art as a means of entering the world in which the prisoners actually lived, which meant we primarily chose images depicting the brutal daily grind of imprisonment in the camp and the prisoners' suffering. This was also a way of adding an audiovisual component to the Memorial Site's permanent exhibition. The works of art had to be in a usable condition for us to include them in ARt. Plus, we had to take rights of use into account. And we wanted to represent the sheer variety of the works of art created by former prisoners – from pencil sketches to wood-block prints and even watercolors. Last but not least, we wanted to show how artistic explorations of what it was like to be incarcerated in the camp have evolved over time, starting with the survivors themselves, then moving on to the next generations of descendants. That is why we decided to include examples of graphic novels, both fiction and nonfiction, which were published decades later.

Have the works of art been altered?

The artworks were graphically edited so they could be visually inserted into the Memorial Site surroundings. In effect, this means backgrounds were removed to enable the central motif to be positioned correctly in three dimensions. Some of the images were also split into individual layers. And in the app, a logo and the name of the artist were added to Boris Kobe's "camp deck" playing cards, at the request of the institution that owns the rights to them.

Were the drawings and paintings all created by prisoners?

No. We have included works in ARt that were created by other artists alongside drawings and paintings by former prisoners. Some of these artists were grappling with the subject matter as the descendants of camp prisoners, while others were coming at it from a purely professional, artistic standpoint.

Where can I find out more about the drawings and paintings of Dachau Concentration Camp?

The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site has published an exhibition catalog for every special exhibition dedicated to the topic of art in the camp. The most recent catalog, titled "Beweise für die Nachwelt: Die Zeichnungen des Dachau-Überlebenden Georg Tauber" ("Evidence for Posterity: The Drawings of the Dachau Survivor Georg Tauber"), was published by Dr. Stefanie Pilzweger-Steiner and Dr. Andrea Riedle in 2018. You can find precise references for this and for the other exhibition catalogs in our list of sources. The articles by Prof. Dr. Stefanie Endlich published in 2015 and 2008 shed a more general light on the issue of art in concentration camps and also look at how such works of art have been received over the years. Dr. Michaela Haibl's article that appeared in "Dachauer Hefte" in 2002 gives a good overview of the drawings and paintings created by prisoners in Dachau Concentration Camp. You will find full references for these articles in the list of sources too.

Why does the app feature interactive elements?

We see the interactive elements of the app as an aid to active learning and remembering, which both fosters long-lasting learning outcomes and opens the door to a very personal culture of remembrance. Digital apps are a user-friendly way to get people involved in what we have to offer. We are also using this project to try out interactive digital formats and how we could harness them on the Memorial Site.

How was the project financed?

Various foundations helped the Memorial Site turn this project into a reality. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (EVZ, Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and Future), the Bavarian Sparkassenstiftung Foundation, the Stiftung Bildung & Wissenschaft (Education & Science Foundation) of the Sparkasse Dachau, and the Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten (Bavarian Memorial Sites Foundation) for their kind support.

Overall management

Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, Albert Knoll, Dr. Stefanie Pilzweger-Steiner, Dr. Christoph Thonfeld

Idea

Dr. Elisabeth Fink, Steffen Jost, Nicole Steng

Project management

Dr. Elisabeth Fink and Nicole Steng

Assistance

Anna Klumb

Copyediting

ANathalie Geyer, Rike Schreiber, Wiebke Siemsglüß

Technical implementation and design

ZAUBAR, Berlin

English translation

Lisa's Office, Munich

Voice artists

German: Antje Hobucher, Peter Wolters
English: Benjamin Lang, Meena Stempfle

Recording studio

Portmanteau Studio, Munich

Thanks

Support for this project came from many sides. The project managers would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to their colleagues from the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site who gave such incredible support in conducting archival research, answering questions about content and educational matters, overcoming technical challenges, carrying out PR work, and copy editing. Huge thanks also to our sponsors for funding the project. We are grateful to the team at the iRights.Lab think tank, who consulted with us so amiably and helped us conduct a very fruitful exchange of ideas as part of the EVZ "digital // memory" funding program. Last but most certainly not least, thank you to all the former prisoners of Dachau Concentration Camp and their descendants as well as the archives, museums, and other artists and authors who showed such generosity in making their works of art and materials available to us.

Legal information

All rights holders and sources, insofar as they are known, have been stated. There is one case where the creator of an artwork is unknown. If you have any information about this, please do get in touch with the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.
Private, non-commercial use for educational, artistic, cultural, and academic purposes, as well as commercial use or use in connection with commercial purposes, is only permitted with the express written consent of the author.

About the "ARt. Dachau Concentration Camp in Drawings and Paintings" project