Amélie Diamant-Holmstrom fled Europe in 1940 on a ship of young refugees. That journey is the subject of the Defying the Nazis VR experience

When Diamant-Holmstrom watched the virtual-reality piece for the first time, this summer, she had no idea what to expect, says Elijah Allan-Blitz, who directed the experience. Her reaction, as can be seen in the video here, was one of awe. And that kind of reaction, he adds, is “what this [VR] stuff was meant for.”

And the story, in this case, is an incredible one: Waitstill and Martha Sharp were a Unitarian minister and his wife, who in 1939 left their own children back in Massachusetts so they could go to Europe to help refugees. Martha got the children on board the Excambion, including the Diamant triplets, Amélie, Eveline and Marianne. They were 13 years old, from Czechoslovakia, and though their parents would eventually make it to the United States, they had been sent ahead to safety.

Originally Published HERE