AI and Gaming Transform Holocaust Remembrance

As new digital technologies transform how the Holocaust is remembered and taught, experts warn that sustainability, ethics and collaboration are now just as important as creativity in keeping alive the global memory of Nazi Germany’s genocide, which killed six million Jewish people and millions of others during the Second World War.

“At the moment, we have an incredibly dispersed and diverse landscape of memory-making, and the more digital we get, the more diverse it becomes,” said Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, Director of the Landecker Digital Memory Lab at the University of Sussex, in an interview.

As Holocaust survivors age and first-hand testimony becomes rarer, educators, researchers and designers are increasingly turning to emerging technologies to preserve memory, foster empathy and engage younger generations beyond museums and classrooms. Narrative-driven games and immersive virtual spaces now allow users not only to observe history, but also to interact with it.

The challenge is no longer whether new technologies should be used, but whether they will be used thoughtfully enough to ensure that memory endures for generations to come. These modern tools open new — and sometimes uncomfortable — questions about interactivity, responsibility and historical truth.

From taboo to tool: ‘Video games and the Holocaust are mainstream’

Long considered the last taboo of Holocaust representation, video games are increasingly part of the conversation. Research-led approaches have led studios to work closely with historians, educators and archives, opening space for designers like Luc Bernard. His game The Light in the Darkness follows a Jewish family in Nazi-occupied France.

“It doesn’t have a Hollywood ending; I decided to show the real story, which is that most Jews during the Holocaust were murdered,” said Mr Bernard, who is working on a director’s cut funded by the Claims Conference and Meta. The new version will include additional scenes that explore the story in greater depth.

“It’s no longer a taboo subject,” he said. “Video games and the Holocaust are mainstream.”

The Light in the Darkness has reached audiences beyond traditional educational settings, with an average player age of 35, including gamers from countries such as Saudi Arabia, he said.

“People relate to the characters, and it has resonated with them more than even films about the Holocaust,” he added. “That’s the power of video games, or any form of art. It depends on how you direct it.”

Building resilient digital memory

The current landscape requires a fundamental rethink of how Holocaust memory is produced and sustained in the digital age, from interactivity to what it means when users engage with the past in these spaces, Richardson-Walden said. Her work brings together educators, researchers, policymakers, technology companies and memory institutions worldwide.

Collaboration is essential to ensure Holocaust memory remains resilient as digital formats multiply, she added.

“Without coming together, we are wasting resources — human, financial and technological — and spreading our time far too thinly,” she cautioned. One of the greatest risks lies not in technology itself, but in how digital projects are funded.

Short-term initiatives, from apps to virtual exhibitions, are often expensive and quickly become obsolete as software changes, causing projects to “break and disappear,” along with the digitised materials, metadata and knowledge behind them.

Rethinking interactivity and risk: ‘You can’t change the narrative’

Instead, Richardson-Walden called for investment in shared digital infrastructure. Aligned databases, common standards and permanent digital expertise within institutions would allow memory organisations to adapt quickly as new technologies emerge, whether in gaming, virtual reality or artificial intelligence (AI).

Interactivity is often misunderstood, particularly in discussions about video games, with fears that users might be able to alter what happened in the Holocaust.

“But anyone in the gaming industry understands that this is an illusion of agency,” she said. “You can’t change the narrative.”

AI risks: Catching up with the tech world

At the same time, she warned of genuine risks in today’s digital environment, especially with the rapid spread of generative AI. Holocaust-related content circulates widely online, making it vulnerable to monetisation without historical understanding or ethical oversight.

“People know the Holocaust performs well online,” she said. “It’s a well-known subject. People want to talk about it, which is positive — but also a problem in this sphere because it means it can be monetised.”

Pointing to the mass production of AI-generated images on social media, she said policymakers and institutions must keep pace with technological change. “We need to find a way to catch up with the tech world’s speed, otherwise the policies and discussions we’re having will lag so far behind reality that they risk becoming meaningless.”

Both Bernard and Richardson-Walden emphasised that responsibility for digital Holocaust remembrance extends beyond individual creators. Technology companies, funders and governments must work with educators and creatives to develop ethical and sustainable approaches.

“These conversations used to happen in fringe spaces,” Richardson-Walden said, referring to a recent international panel discussion on technology, memory and the future of Holocaust remembrance.

Now, global forums have an important role to play in turning discussion into coordinated action.