LastSeen Project recognized with multiple prizes in 2024

*#LastSeen Project Manager Alina Bothe accepts award.*

The USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research is one of the founding institutional partners of the #LastSeen Project, which gathers, analyzes, and digitally publishes photographs of Nazi mass deportations of Jews, Romani people, and people with disabilities from the German Reich between 1938 and 1945. Launched in November 2021, the #LastSeen team – with substantial support from archivists, amateur historians, and the descendants of survivors – has discovered dozens of hitherto unknown images, including visual evidence of the Nazi crimes in 30 new towns, and identified over 280 victims and photographers on these deportation images.

To share its work, the team created an innovative digital image atlas for research and education, which is accessible to the public here. In addition, the project has developed educational tools, including an online game for students and analog workshops for teachers.

In 2024, the project has garnered many awards and distinctions.

The #LastSeen online game was awarded the DigAMus Award 2024 in the Apps and Games category. This prize honors digital education and communication projects in German-speaking countries that are created by archives, museums, galleries or libraries. In the #LastSeen game, users act as investigative journalists researching a Nazi deportation in Munich or Eisenach for a video blog or article. They search for historical images and sources in an attic in order to solve their mysteries. Rich content allows users to immerse themselves in personal stories and helps them decipher the images. The #LastSeen team has determined that users play on average for over 40 minutes and draw 85% of all conclusions correctly.

Learn more about the DigAMus awards here.

Explore the #LastSeen game here. (Only the German version is currently available.)

The #LastSeen project webpage was recently awarded the silver medal in the category “Digital Experience – Immersive Web Experience” in the Art Directors Club Germany (ADC) competition. Read more about the Art Directors Club Germany (ADC) award here.

In mid-October, the #LastSeen Project received this year’s Grimme Online Award in the “Wissen und Bildung” (Knowledge and Education) category, making it one of the few research projects to have ever received the award. This is the most important award in Germany for high-quality scientific, cultural, and journalistic online content.

The awards jury wrote, “The historic photographs from thirty-three different places in Germany do not only depict the people who were deported, but also some of the Sicherheitspolizei officers and bystanders involved, thus serving as testament to the everyday brutality of these deportations. Thanks to the map feature and detailed information provided, they achieve a sense of immediacy that is rarely seen elsewhere.” They added, “#LastSeen impressed the jury with its scientific precision, ethical handling of historic photographs and documents, and its well-thought-out use of digital media. The project demonstrates in a poignant and impactful way how the atrocities committed by the Nazis can be made tangible through careful research and accurate historical appraisals.”

Bodo Klimpel, who is chief administrative officer of the Recklinghausen district, where the Grimme Institute is based, said in his speech announcing the award, “It is so easy to forget these people when we don’t see them, when we don’t know their names and no longer see their faces. […] Then it is easy to reduce what happened to a series of facts, dates, and trite statements, to resign it to history. #LastSeen prevents us from doing this and reclaims this history so that we see these people as individuals.”

Read more about the Grimme award here.

The awards ceremony took place on October 15, 2024, in Marl, Germany. Watch the video of #LastSeen winning the award below.

In November, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), a global organization of professionals and innovators in the digital field, awarded the #LastSeen Project and its digital studio &why four Lovie Awards. The Lovie Awards are one of the most prestigious honors for digital innovations in technology, business, and culture in Europe. Often referred to as the European counterpart to the global Webby Awards, they recognize outstanding achievements across various digital categories, including websites, apps, social media, podcasts, and online advertising.

The #LastSeen project received two Silver Lovies in the categories “Apps, Platforms & Reference” and “Beyond: Education.” Additionally, it won a Bronze Lovie and the People’s Lovie in the category “Apps, Platforms & Software: Games.”