Netherlands – One of Germany’s leading institutions for film, television and media education will present an immersive digital reconstruction of a little-known site associated with Auschwitz, at IBC2026.
Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf will preview Witnessing History, a 3D experience that allows visitors to explore a reconstruction of the laundry courtyard and surrounding buildings as they would have appeared in 1943, while discovering the stories of prisoners and locals connected with the site.
The reconstruction of the concentration camp’s Pedanterie laundry, in the nearby city of Bielsko-Biała, lets visitors explore a digital twin of the laundry courtyard and surrounding buildings via headset, interacting with objects, text, images and audio tied to archival testimony.
The prototype combines historical research with AV technologies including photogrammetry, drone imaging, and 3D reconstruction. It also examines the potential and limits of generative AI when recreating historically sensitive environments.
Martin Gordon, project manager at Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, says: “Documents, photographs and conventional AV storytelling provide an overview, but awareness of the physical dimensions of spaces is something that, in earlier times, could only be derived from physical presence.”
“Today, architecturally accurate digital twinning can provide information leading to a fuller understanding of events.”
The project, which is part of EIT Culture & Creativity’s first major presence at IBC, will be on Stand FT111 in Hall 14.
