Courtroom 600: An Educational Virtual Reality Encounter with the History and Legacies of the Nuremberg Trials

FAIN: MD-263893-19

University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT 06269-9000)
Kenneth Thompson (Project Director: June 2018 to March 2021)

Development of a virtual reality experience on the trials of Nazi leadership at Nuremberg, Germany (1945–49).

Courtroom 600, an educational virtual reality experience, will engage learners in historical thinking as they explore Holocaust history and its human rights legacies through the lens of the trials at Nuremberg, Germany (1945-49), which sought to hold the Nazi regime and colluders accountable and forge standards for international criminal law. The interactive, inquiry-based experience tasks learners, as members of the US prosecutorial team, with investigating documents, photographs, and other primary sources to piece together evidence. The project demonstrates how open-source game and library information systems platforms can connect to increase the discoverability and uses of digital collections, in this case executive trial counsel Thomas J. Dodd’s papers at the University of Connecticut. Courtroom 600’s capacity to provide emotionally-immersive experiences also suggests paths by which museums and archives might connect rising generations to the value of collections research.

Media Coverage

Reviving Holocaust History with Virtual Reality (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jessica McBride
Publication: UConn Today
Date: 1/9/2019
Abstract: UConn researchers are developing an immersive learning experience using virtual reality (VR) and game design to bring to life archival materials from the Nuremberg Trials.
URL: https://today.uconn.edu/2019/01/reviving-holocaust-history-virtual-reality/

NEH awards ve Connecticut projects more than $100,000 (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Susan Dunne
Publication: Hartford Courant
Date: 12/10/2018
URL: https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-fea-neh-grants-connecticut-20181212-story.html

UConn Revives History with Virual Reality (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jessica McBride
Publication: The Jewish Advocate
Date: 1/18/2019

Grant Gives New Life To Nuremberg Trials Papers Housed At UConn (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Chris Dehnel
Publication: The Patch
Date: 1/10/2019
URL: https://patch.com/connecticut/mansfield/grant-gives-new-life-nuremberg-trials-papers-housed-uconn

Digital technology offers new ways to teach lessons from the Holocaust (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jennifer Rich
Publication: The Conversation
Date: 1/8/2019
Abstract: When it comes to understanding the horrors of the Holocaust – one of the key aims of International Holocaust Remembrance Day – most millennials are woefully lacking in knowledge. That much was laid bare in a 2018 study commissioned by the Claims Conference – an organization that supports survivors of the Holocaust.
URL: http://theconversation.com/digital-technology-offers-new-ways-to-teach-lessons-from-the-holocaust-102023

Bringing History to Life Through Virtual Reality (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jennifer Rich
Publication: The Chronicle
Date: 1/24/2019
Abstract: Bringing to light the University of Connecticut’s roots to the famous Nuremberg trials after World War II, researchers are creating a new way to immerse oneself in history. Through the technology of virtual reality, researchers are currently developing a game designed to experience the Nuremberg trials in a way that hasn’t yet been done before.
URL: https://www.thechronicle.com/stories/20190123GAME.php