Levien Rouw and Semra Foric presented a new virtual reality educational device that was launched during summer 2018 by the Anne Frank House. It consists of a reconstruction of the layout of the secret annexe. In the VR, one can see some furniture and certain artefacts used at that time. To some extent, it looks more realistic than the actual museum, which is empty of personal items. A participant questioned the accuracy of the VR; he asked on which elements the recreation of the interior was based. This is the representation of a moment during the two years of existence in hiding. This one particular situation is very close to what it must have been like, based on “how Anne Frank describes the rooms in the hiding place, even the dimensions, what is on the walls and so on. After the war, when the museum started in 1960, Otto Frank ordered people to create a scale model. He himself was the only eye witness to survive from the hiders. He advised how to put these, what the rooms looked like; it was his contribution.”
The VR is interactive: the user can click on objects, hear sounds (water drops, planes flying over the secret annexe, people walking around, etc.) and read Anne Frank quotations from her diary. This device is mainly intended for use by people with disabilities. Due to the narrowness of the place, it is almost impossible to go in with a wheelchair. It is also intended for people living far away who may not have the chance to come to Amsterdam. Semra mentioned in particular the use of this device by Anne Frank centers in Argentina and in the USA. Technically, the VR is available in two modes:
-The Story mode, made for people who don’t have much knowledge about the Frank family.
-The Tour mode, made for people already familiar with the story and who want to explore the place and look out for more details.