Let augmented reality take you right into the stories, and experience up close what life was like for children and teenagers in the Third Reich. Anne Frank’s two best friends talk about their girlhood together and her death. Other contemporary witnesses describe their traumatic childhood experiences during the war. Now you can bring them into your classroom with the WDR 1933–1945 app.
While the contemporary witnesses tell their stories, you see three-dimensional visual elements – like standing right in front of a fence at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Anne Frank’s friend Hannah recalls how they met there one last time. London is burning right in the middle of your very classroom. German bombers fly overhead in attack formation.
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HOW IT ALL WORKS
The app is easy to use: Aim your smartphone camera at an empty space on the floor from two metres away. As you aim, move your camera to scan the floor. A white circle appears. As soon as it is completely white, touch it. In this way, you position the contemporary witness like a hologram. As she tells her story, you can look around the room and live the experience with your smartphone.

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
Our regularly updated app comprises individual stories about the Nazi era. The latest addition to WDR AR 1933–1945 is entitled My Friend Anne Frank. It tells of a girl’s fate that has become a global symbol of the persecution of the Jews, as recounted by Anne’s best friends Jacqueline and Hannah.
Children of War is about World War II as seen through children’s eyes: In Cologne, Anne survives the war in an air raid shelter. Vera loses her father in the London Blitz. And Emma recalls the German Siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), which resulted in the death of over a million people.
In the third part of the app, young German soldiers relate their experiences in the war. These stories are scheduled for release in early 2020.

WHAT AUGMENTED REALITY MEANS
Augmented reality, or AR for short, is technology that lets you place virtual images, three-dimensional animations and additional information in real rooms. It lets the contemporary witnesses sit across from you like holograms or walk through the room and tell you what they experienced during the Nazi era. Augmented reality blends the real world with virtual elements. The stories are short, around three minutes, but very intense and very moving. Use your tablet or smartphone (Android 8.0 and higher - ARCore support necessary!) to bring all these 3D animations and holograms into any room you choose.

TECHNICAL NOTES
Use Wi-Fi to download the app! The full app has a data volume of about 2 GB. The benefit of the app’s shelf structure is that you can download, delete and re-load each story individually.

Tested on following devices:
Samsung Galaxy S8, S9
Samsung Galaxy Tab 4
Google Pixel 2 & 3
Huawei P20
One Plus 5T