The ''Fortnite'' Holocaust Museum, also known as Voices of the Forgotten, is a

virtual museum A virtual museum is a digital entity that draws on the characteristics of a museum, in order to complement, enhance, or augment the museum experience through personalization, interactivity, and richness of content. Virtual museums can perform as ...

in the video game ''

Fortnite Creative ''Fortnite Creative'' is a sandbox game, developed and published by Epic Games, part of the video game ''Fortnite''. It was released on December 6, 2018, for Android (operating system), Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Window ...

'', designed by

Luc Bernard Luc Bernard is a French-Jewishgame designer who created video games such as ''Death Tales'', ''Eternity's Child'', '' Mecho Wars'', ''Desert Ashes'', ''Plague Road'', '' Pocket God vs Desert Ashes'' and ''SteamPirates''. He is also the founder ...

and approved by publisher

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

. It became available in August 2023.

Content

The museum features photographs and plaques highlighting people who resisted the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, and show visitors examples of

Nazi atrocities The governments of the German Empire and Nazi Germany (under Adolf Hitler) ordered, organized, and condoned a substantial number of war crimes, first in the Herero and Nama genocide and then in the World War I, First and World War II, Second World ...

, such as the ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

''. One room in the museum features a "Hall of Historical Figures" featuring people such as Marianne Cohn and

Abdol Hossein Sardari Abdol Hossein Sardari (; 1914–1981) was an Iranian diplomat. He is credited with saving thousands of Jews in Europe, issuing to Iranian Jews in France new passports that did not state their religion as well as issuing hundreds of Iranian passp ...

. On August 3, 2023, ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'' uploaded a trailer for the ''Fortnite'' Holocaust Museum, showcasing the displays and the first person & single player perspective of the exhibit. Designer

cited his fears of the misuse of AI as being a driving force behind his attempts to build a virtual

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

exhibit.

Response

''Fortnite'' publisher

approved the project in August 2023. Some critics of the museum have highlighted issues with ''Fortnite''s virtual

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Museum in 2021, where Epic Games disabled emotes following players recording themselves dancing to King's "

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...

" speech. In response to concerns about vandalism of the memorial, Bernard said that many of the game's features would be disabled, arguing that this would make the ''Fortnite'' Holocaust Museum better protected than real world monuments. ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'' commented on the choice of ''Fortnite'' as a venue for a Holocaust Museum:

"''Fortnite'' is not an obvious location for a museum about genocide; the popular battle royal game is probably known best for its extensive suite of goofy, gesticulating characters. It's a place where you can find
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
duking it out with a sentient banana peel, and then swinging his arms in a viral victory dance known as the griddy."

Release

The release of the ''Fortnite'' Holocaust Museum was delayed following concerns of vandalism by Neo-Nazi

internet trolls In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and m ...

, particularly after comments from American

Holocaust denier Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...

Nick Fuentes Nicholas Joseph Fuentes (born August 18, 1998) is an American Far-right politics, far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * Pundit, political pundit, activist, and Online streamer, live streamer who promotes White supremacy, white supremacist, Hom ...

. It became available on August 14, 2023.

References

{{Fortnite Epic Games games Fortnite Holocaust memorials Holocaust museums Single-player online games Video game events Virtual events Video game locations Virtual museums