An inaugural exhibition for children and their families at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibition takes visitors on a narrative walk through of the story of Daniel, a Jewish boy and his family leading up to and during the Holocaust. His story was created from actual accounts from a number of people. Visitors are introduced to Daniel and his family and what their lives were like in Germany as the Nazis took over. The environments are created with two- and three-dimensional painted backdrops and elements similar to theater flats.
The story is revealed through pages in an oversized handwritten diary, which appears in every setting, chronicling the changes taking place over time. In Daniel's bedroom, visitors can look through his drawers, sit on his bed, and get to know a bit about his life before the Nazis. As visitors move through the story and through time, passageways become increasingly constricted, environments increasingly dark, and options increasingly limited. In the ghetto room, where Daniel's whole family was forced to live, the use of forced perspective and what the design team called “2 1/2 dimensions” evoked an intense compression.
Daniel's final diary entry is highlighted in a stack of suitcases outside the image of concentration camps walls. At the beginning of the exhibition, visitors are given an overview of Daniel's whole story, so that they know going in that Daniel survived. And the last section of the exhibition contains a summary of what happened to members of his family, as well as a space where visitors can leave their own messages for Daniel.
(photos © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Date: 1992
Client: Darcie Fohrman Associates
Roles: Exhibition Co-developer, Conceptual Designer, Co-Writer
Venue: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Collaborators: Darcie Fohrman, John Chiodo, Susie Stern, Susan Morgenstein
Link: U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum