Ask a Survivor: award for the Jewish Holocaust Centre
The Jewish Holocaust Centre has received an award from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria for its Ask a Survivor project.
Jennifer L Maxwell
Engagement Manager Jennifer Levitt Maxwell was “Highly Commended for Excellence” in her work at the museum.
Jennifer has applied her exceptional skills and talent to work collaboratively with our Education team, particularly our Head of Education, Lisa Phillips, and our Audio-Visual Producer, Robbie Simons, to swiftly develop an excellent Virtual Learning Platform during COVID, including the award-winning Ask A Survivor.
This included a Virtual Museum as well as the Ask a Survivor and Understanding Through Testimony educational interactives. Her determination to respond quickly to the situation enabled her to coordinate the team and work closely with Lisa and Robbie on the vision to create engaging material for students who were studying remotely.
In its citation AMAGA said: “Ask a Survivor was developed with the Jewish Holocaust Centre’s community of Holocaust Survivors. Over an 8-year period, 46 interviews with 32 different survivors were conducted. Meeting and interacting with a Holocaust survivor is one of the unforgettable highlights of visiting the Jewish Holocaust Centre. Ask a Survivor was created to future-proof this experience. To ensure that the museum could facilitate ongoing meaningful interaction between students and Holocaust survivors. With COVID-19 restrictions, the Jewish Holocaust Centre had to fast track this project and continue to educate students through online workshops.
In this interactive experience, 18 questions most asked by students were curated as an online resource. Students then have an opportunity to pose these questions, compare responses and see the similarities and differences in the survivors’ answers.”
The judges found Ask a Survivor “a moving and a significant project that was delivered respectfully and with integrity.” They acknowledged the importance of capturing survivor testimony in future-proofing these narratives for generations to come and were impressed with the good use of technology, high level of execution and ease of navigation of the website
Museum Director & CEO Jayne Josem told J-Wire: “We are so proud of the virtual materials – featuring survivor testimony – which have been really well received by school students and teachers, and many others, across Australia.”
