WDR Stolpersteine NRW

"For Remembering" - with this claim, WDR has published "Stolpersteine NRW". The app and an accompanying website make it possible to digitally experience the stories behind around 15,000 Stolpersteine in NRW. The starting point is Gunter Demnig's Stolpersteine project: since the mid-1990s, he and delegates have been laying small brass memorial plaques in Europe's streets. Each stone commemorates a person who the National Socialist regime persecuted, deported, murdered or drove to commit suicide. With well over 80,000 Stolpersteine in 27 countries, the largest decentralized memorial in the world has been created. "Stolpersteine NRW" extends the work into the digital realm for the first time covering the whole of a federal state - as a mobile app and a browser application.

The memory of the victims of National Socialism must be maintained.
More than 15,000 stones have already been laid in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the places where the victims lived before their deportation, murder or suicide.
All fates have been brought together in a central database thanks to many people involved.
Through texts, audio stories, illustrations or augmented reality content, the stories of those affected are retold and thus remain unforgotten.
Together with the WDR we were allowed to accompany the project "Stolpersteine NRW" from the beginning.
In the end, many workshops and meetings led to concepts for the app as well as the website. In addition to the user interface we designed, we also developed the entire look & feel of "Stolpersteine NRW". The UI is restrained, shows the necessary respect for the topic and still convinces with its modernity.

Which target groups are served and how should the app as well as the website guide the user through the topics?
The central theme of the development was the user experience. How will users use "Stolpersteine NRW", what are the interesting factors? These questions hovered over us the whole time during development. The goal is to serve different target groups equally, so that all content can be intuitively understood and received.

The app, which is aimed at all mobile users, lists all the stumbling stones in North Rhine-Westphalia. It includes an interactive map on which all 15,000 stones can be found and on which users can navigate to the stone they have selected.
The navigation is based on the integration of a Google Maps API.
All destinies can thus be captured and explored via the map. Special filters quickly distinguish between contents or groups of victims, so that users can orient themselves promptly.
At certain stumbling blocks in NRW, content is also available in augmented reality. For example, images can be superimposed on real places - a journey through time directly on site.
A sympathy function allows virtual candles to be lit for victims, so that the suffering is not forgotten.
In addition to free exploration and navigation, users also have the option of following curated routes. At various locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, the tours are ready to be made and to learn more about the victims, the users run a predetermined path and experience and see the homes of the victims.
The app was developed cross-platform and is available for iOS in the Appstore and for Android in the Google Playstore.

In addition to the native application, the associated website was also designed from the beginning of the "Stolpersteine NRW" project. It takes up the content in a different way and is available as a location-independent research tool. Users can research and learn about the victims of the Nazi regime via their desktop computers. Audio stories, illustrated stories as well as editorially prepared texts and picture galleries commemorate the victims and make their fates clear once again.
In addition to the familiar functions from the app, the start page directly reminds us of the almost unbelievable number of victims - over 15,000 stones are artistically recorded and deposited with the real records. A memorial that visually captures the inconceivable number of victims.
As in the native app, the Google Maps map is the basis of the interactive search.
A special highlight of the website is the offer for pupils. Specially developed teaching materials offer schools a wide range of options for integrating the topics into their lessons.

"For Remembering" - this is especially true for the generation that is no longer lucky enough to speak to contemporary witnesses and deal with the topic.
Unlike the app, the "Stolpersteine NRW" website is designed for use on laptops and PCs. It contains additional background information and is primarily aimed at teachers and young people at secondary schools.
Various teaching modules are available for download and enable schools to engage with the topic in an exciting, well-prepared way in collaboration with the website and app.
Much of the newly produced content on the app and website is available under a Creative Commons license and can therefore be used outside the WDR service, for example in the classroom.