In December 2025, the West University of Timișoara (WUT) organised a series of six national focus groups as part of Work Package 3 of the ECHOES project. These sessions brought together a diverse range of participants, including Jewish communities, memory custodians, historians, educators, students, civil society actors, and digital technology experts, to examine and validate the project’s emerging methodological framework.

The focus groups explored key dimensions such as ethical safeguards in AI-mediated Holocaust testimony, historical authenticity, pedagogical usability, community expectations, and the responsible integration of digital tools in remembrance practices. Their insights played a crucial role in refining the framework, ensuring that it remains historically grounded, ethically robust, and educationally meaningful.

By systematically gathering feedback across six structured sessions, WUT strengthened the methodological foundations of ECHOES and helped shape a transnational approach to Holocaust remembrance that is both innovative and deeply respectful of survivor testimony.