Discover a new way to connect with history by engaging with a Holocaust survivor. Ask your questions through Dimensions in Testimony, the Virginia Holocaust Museum's cutting-edge virtual intelligence exhibit.

Immerse yourself in an extraordinary interactive experience at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, featuring a cutting-edge exhibit. Dimensions in Testimony, a groundbreaking display using specialized recording and display technologies and next-generation natural language processing, allows visitors to engage in real-time conversations with two-dimensional representations of Holocaust survivors. Don't miss this rare chance to connect one-on-one with survivors and gain a deeper understanding of their experiences in real-time. This groundbreaking exhibit gives you the rare chance to engage in one-on-one conversations with survivors.

Halina Drexler (later Zimm) grew up in Lodz, Poland, with her parents and two sisters. In Poland, life was pleasant until Nazis invaded the country in 1939, closed the schools and forced Jews to wear the Yellow Star. Recognizing the eminent danger to his family, Halina’s father had the family leave Lodz and travel to Zarnow. En route, the Nazis stopped the family and stole almost all of their possesions.

In Zarnow, rumors circulated about the existence of concentration camps. Few people believed the stories; however, Halina’s father did and so he obtained two forged birth certificates for his two youngest daughters'  In November, 1940, Halina said goodbye to her parents, fearing she would never see them again. Two weeks later, the Nazis arrived and deported the Jews of Zarnow.

Halina escaped to Warsaw where, in a train station, she searched for someone to help her. Halina met a woman who took her in but neighbors began asking questions, so Halina knew she needed to leave. Eventually, Halina found employment as a housekeeper for a young couple who lived directly across the street from the Warsaw Ghetto.

Halina lived many terrifying moments. On one visit to a market, she saw a woman she had known in Lodz. That woman denounced her to the police. Shortly thereafter, two Nazis arrived at the apartment and accused Halina of being a Jew. Halina also is able to recall the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Standing outside, she could hear people weeping and crying as the Nazis dynamited buildings where Jews were hiding.

Eventually liberated by the Russians, she met her future husband Alan Zimm in 1945. With marriage came immigration to the United States where Halina and Alan established new lives, raised a family and became active members in the community. Halina often speaks to groups of students and teachers inspiring all who hear her.

Eva Kor, daughter of Alexander and Jaffa Mozes, was born on January 31, 1934, in Porţ, Romania. She had a twin sister, Miriam, and two older sisters, Aliz and Edit. The family was Orthodox and Alexander prayed frequently. The family were the only Jews in their town. Eva and Miriam attended school in a one room school house. In 1940, after being forced to cede thirty percent of his country’s territory to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Romania’s King Carol II abdicated the throne. A coalition government was formed, and General Ion Antonescu, a radical right wing military officer, came to power. Romania officially joined the Axis alliance in November 1940. Porţ, where the Mozes family lived, was annexed by Hungary. In late 1943, Eva’s family wanted to leave the country; they were caught trying to sneak off their property and were ordered back home. The Mozes family remained in Porţ until March 1944, when they were deported to the Ceheiu ghetto. The family was in the ghetto for five weeks, during which Alexander was beaten. From the ghetto, the family was deported on cattle cars to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration and death camp complex in Nazi-occupied Poland. Upon arrival, Alexander, Jaffa, Aliz and Edit were sent to the gas chambers. As twins, Eva and Miriam held special value to Dr. Josef Mengele, a physician who performed medical experiments on camp inmates to research the Nazi’s baseless, pseudo-scientific theories. These experiments often maimed or killed patients. After an early series of Mengele’s injections, Eva grew ill and nearly died. Upon her recovery, she realized that being a Mengele twin made it easier to steal food for herself and Miriam. In January 1945, the Nazis began evacuating prisoners from Auschwitz. However, Eva and Miriam remained at the camp. On January 27, 1945, they were liberated by Soviet armed forces. Eva and Miriam reunited with an aunt and lived with her in Cluj, Romania, until 1950, when they all moved to Israel. There, she met and married Michael Kor, who was also a survivor. The couple emigrated to Indiana in 1960, where they had a son, Alexander, and daughter, Rina. Eva went back to school, received her bachelor’s degree in general studies from Indiana State University, and eventually became a real estate agent. In 1984, with help from Miriam, Eva started CANDLES (Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments) Inc. Their goal was to locate other surviving Mengele twins. In 1995, Eva opened the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana in honor of her sister Miriam, who died of cancer in 1993. Eva originally gave testimony to USC Shoah Foundation in 1995; in 2016, in association with the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Eva was interviewed for Dimensions in Testimony. Eva passed away in 2019

Born in 1932 in Lodz, Pinchas grew up in an Orthodox home with his father, mother, and twin sister Sabina. When war broke out, his family relocated to Warsaw to be with relatives, eventually moving to the Warsaw Ghetto. They hid in a bunker during the uprising in 1943. After a few weeks, Pinchas and his family were discovered and deported to Majdanek. Upon arrival his parents and sister were murdered, but Pinchas was selected for slave labor. He survived four concentration camps before being sent on a death march to Theresienstadt. Pinchas was liberated by the Red Army in May 1945. Since liberation Pinchas has lived in different countries all over the world. In 1985, Pinchas immigrated to Toronto where he still lives today.

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was Born in Breslau, Germany in 1925, the youngest of three girls. In 1942, she attempted to escape to France with her sister, but the two were caught, imprisoned, and eventually deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, Anita became a member of the infamous women’s orchestra, which helped her survive. In 1944, she and 3000 other inmates were transferred to Bergen-Belsen. She was liberated by the British in 1945. After the war, Anita moved to England where she lives today.

Dimensions in Testimony℠ is a collection of interactive biographies from USC Shoah Foundation that enable people to have conversations with pre-recorded video images of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses to genocide.

Dimensions in Testimony℠ is an initiative by USC Shoah Foundation to record and display testimony in a way that will preserve the dialogue between Holocaust Survivors and learners far into the future. Collaborating within the project are Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, with technology by USC Institute for Creative Technologies, and concept by Conscience Display. Funding for Dimensions in Testimony℠ was provided in part by Pears Foundation, Louis. F. Smith, Melinda Goldrich and Andrea Clayton/Goldrich Family Foundation in honor of Jona Goldrich, and Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Other partners include CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.