The Subject(s) of Digital Witnessing. On the Constitution of the Digital Witness Figure in the Use of "Holograms" of Survivors of the Nazi Crimes

Über die Konstitution der digitalen Zeuginnenfigur im Umgang mit „Hologrammen“ von Überlebenden der NS-Verbrechen

Abstract

In recent decades, the witness has become a central social figure in the global culture of remembrance. As a historically aware, moral and auratic authority, the witness stands for the imperative of "never again" and the mission against forgetting the Nazi crimes. Accordingly, the foreseeable demise of the last survivors of the Nazi crimes is discussed with concern. In order to counter their "disappearance", projects have been working for around 15 years to extend the "era of the witness" beyond their physical presence with "holograms". These interactive 3D testimonies are now, for instance, used in schools to simulate conversations with witnesses.

This contribution focuses on the ambivalent subject-object character of the testimonies. It investigates the implications this has for the perception of the digital witness figure by her audience, as well as for the subjectivities of the audience members interacting with the testimonies and for the real-life witnesses whose testimonies are thus digitised. Finally, the article ventures an outlook on how the character of the witness figure changes through her digitalisation and what this could mean for the social function of witnessing.