Young Again Never Again
Liberation 75
TBWA\Canada
The Challenge
Young Again / Never Again was a campaign aimed at lobbying Canadian politicians to mandate Holocaust education in Grade 6. The message was simple: if children aren’t learning about the Holocaust, they aren’t aware of it—and the earlier they learn, the more empathy they can develop for all races and religions.
Harnessing the power of AI, the campaign brought Holocaust survivors back to their younger selves, enabling them to retell their survival stories in a way that resonated with a new generation. These children—once victims—became the campaign’s most powerful influencers. They became relatable to today’s students, as well as to the individuals responsible for shaping their education: Canada’s ministers of education.
The Solution
Young Again / Never Again turned to the children who lived through the Holocaust to become the campaign’s most powerful influencers. Using AI, Holocaust survivors were taken back in time—retelling their stories as their younger selves. The process was meticulous and took several months to complete.
Seeing and hearing a survivor speak as a child made their story more relatable to today’s youth and more compelling to the politicians responsible for shaping education policy. When children hear stories from someone who looks like them, empathy forms more quickly and deeply.
Five survivors in their 80s and 90s were transformed to appear as they did in childhood, using advanced AI and deepfake technology (as of Q1 2024). Authenticity was critical. The entire process took 118 days.
To be eligible, survivors needed to recall their stories with clarity and provide a childhood photo—essential for recreating an authentic younger version of themselves. Few photos from the Holocaust era survived, and those that did often required restoration.
Survivors were filmed telling their stories. Young body doubles were cast to match their childhood body types and facial structures. Once filmed, AI was used for facial mapping. The final step involved de-aging and cloning the survivors’ voices—blending them with those of the body doubles, who were also selected for matching accents.
Watch the Case Study
Watch the Films
The Results
This campaign focused on changing the Canadian school system—and education ministers have begun to listen. Of the 10 Canadian provinces, eight have committed to mandating Holocaust education. In Ontario, the country’s most populous province, Holocaust education is now required in Grade 6. For 149,243 children in Ontario, empathy now arrives earlier, more powerfully, and more personally than ever before.
Other provinces followed. New Brunswick mandated Holocaust education in Grade 7, while six additional provinces introduced a mandate at Grade 10. It’s a meaningful start, and advocacy efforts are ongoing.
Grade 6 is considered the ideal time to introduce Holocaust education, as the earlier children learn, the more empathy they can develop for people of all races and religions.
To support this effort, the Young Again / Never Again Lesson Plan was created, giving teachers the tools to incorporate Holocaust education into their Grade 6 social studies curriculum—even in provinces where it is not yet mandated.
