Raum der Namen

A digital directory of individuals imprisoned at Mauthausen Concentration Camp, showing in a virtual version of the memorial where a name is located at the physical location, the “Room of Names”.

The “Room of Names” website was developed for the Mauthausen Memorial to fulfil three functions: Firstly, to allow people to search for the names of individuals known to have been interned at the camp; secondly, to provide a way for family members or researchers to submit additional biographical information and photographs on the internees, which will then be added to the entry in the register; and thirdly, to indicate where a name can be found at the physical memorial site in Upper Austria.

The concept for this project was developed in close collaboration with digital product designer Tim Hacker. To show the physical location of the names, we worked with Philip Hezoucky, who created a 3D visualisation of the memorial site. When the location of a name is requested, a virtual 'flight' through the site shows the path to where the name is engraved in the glass panels. The name is then highlighted with a beam of light.