ITS-STORY (Interactive Storytelling – supporting augmented memory in internment and deportation camps in Nazi Europe), is an experimental, exploratory and interdisciplinary project. We aim to explore the use of Mixed Reality (MR) in a Memory-based Heritage. To tackle this vast subject, we want to focus on the Memory Work on the role of Nazi transit camps during the Second World War (WWII). This application framework is interesting because it carries a particular ethical dimension. Making part of the museographic project, whose themes refer to a painful past, interactive experiences could provoke ambiguous feelings in visitors and victims alike. It is therefore essential to maintain a certain ethic when conveying the history of the Holocaust and the processes of persecution and repression that took place during these deportations.

The hypothesis is that a distanced immersion allowed by this type of technology and an ethical personalized interactive narration make it possible to involve the visitor, and to propose a different understanding of the past, in situations where visitors no longer have direct, autobiographical links with events that took place almost 80 years ago.

In Compiègne, this trend is reflected in the fact that almost half of all visitors are under thirty. A challenge for both generation and gender.

The research question studied is: “Can we use Mixed Reality for Memory Work on the role of internment and deportation camps during WWII and if so, how and which impact will it have on the visitors?”.

The expression “augmented memory work” refers to the use of advanced technologies (such as augmented reality, virtual reality, or interactive digital storytelling) to enrich, support, or transform collective memory practices, particularly in relation to major historical events such as internment and deportation during the Second World War.

The societal issues include:

• Making testimonies, artifacts, or historical sites accessible through immersive or interactive technologies.
• Enhancing emotional and cognitive engagement of visitors or learners through personalized or immersive experiences.
• Providing deeper historical context through multisensory storytelling or virtual reconstructions.
• Supporting a more vivid transmission of memory, especially to younger generations, using media they are more naturally familiar with.

The ITS-STORY project is funded by ANR (ANR-24-CE33-4992). The project follows on from the MemoReal project funded by the Hauts-de-France region (Dispositif STIMulE : volet Recherche Exploratoire - STIR)

• Liste à puceDuration: 48 months (2025–2028)
• Start Date: January 1, 2025