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Can video games help educate about the Holocaust? Yes, says developer

“The reality is, video games are the number-one-used platform now,” says developer who created Holocaust-themed game and virtual museum inside incredibly popular online game.

By World Israel News Staff

A video game developer is using the popular medium to educate the public about the Holocaust, signaling a new way in which people can learn about and emotionally connect with the fate of European Jewry during World War II.

Recent weeks have seen a virtual Holocaust museum opened within one of the world’s most popular games and the release of a new game in which players experience life as French Jews during the Nazi occupation.

“The reality is, video games are the number-one-used platform now,” Luc Bernard, who spent 15 years developing a Holocaust-themed video game, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

“They’re bigger than movies, they’re bigger than music. Video games are the future of storytelling. So that’s why I also saw this as kind of a perfect platform to educate about the Holocaust.”

Bernard’s game, called Light in the Darkness, allows players to experience life through the eyes of a French Jewish family during the Holocaust. Notably, the game ends with the same outcome, no matter what choices the player makes – being killed by the Nazis.

Bernard explained that he designed the game in this way in order to illustrate that “people in the Holocaust” did not “have a choice.”

He also created a Holocaust memorial within the wildly popular online video game Fornite, where players can explore the space and learn about the genocide.

However, due to restrictions over gory and violent content within Fornite, Bernard was limited regarding the material he included in the experience.

That memorial earned praise from Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

“We commend the creators of this ‘Fortnite’ experience for utilizing one of the most influential mediums of our time — online games — to build a new kind of Holocaust museum,” Greenblatt told JTA.