IS IT APPROPRIATE TO LIKE A POST ABOUT AUSCHWITZ?
The Holocaust and social media is a cluster that never portends anything good. Well, unless we look at how the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum manages its Twitter and Facebook profiles. They have become one of the most important channels for combating disinformation and preserving the memory of World War II victims.
“Camp Auschwitz” - a sweatshirt with such an inscription was paraded by on of the participants of the recent attack on the Capitol. Journalists were quick to elicit information on who the long-haired assailant was: according to CNN’s sources, he was a certain Robert Keith Packer from Virginia. On the other hand, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum staff tried to find out where Packer could have purchased the clothes, which he probably thought were funny.
On 11 January, an appeal was made on the Twitter account of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum to the administration of Etsy, the huge online shop where users sell their goods: “It is a painful sight for the Survivors and disrespectful to the memory of all the victims of Auschwitz”. It concerned clothes with the inscription “Camp Auschwitz” and graphics with a skull and two intersecting bones, which could be bought for more than 80 PLN.
The reaction was immediate. After two hours, the clothes were no longer on offer, and the Etsy administration replied, thanking us for bringing it to their attention.
Unfortunately, such interventions are still an everyday occurrence for the social media staff of the Auschwitz Museum. However, it also proves how smart use of social media makes it possible to act effectively even on such complex subjects without evoking emotion.
If Instagram had existed in 1944
Eva Heyman was 13 when she was sent to Auschwitz after Nazi Germany attacked Hungary in 1944. She had been writing a diary since February 1944. She passed away eight months later. The girl’s memories have survived thanks to her mother, who survived the Holocaust.
In May 2019, the profile Eva.Stories appeared on Instagram. It was intended to present her story to young people who rely on social media for information about the world. The juxtaposition of contemporary realities with those of the war was truly heart-rending.
The account was narrated by the actress playing Eva, who told observers about her life - initially a pretty carefree, average teenage life. The mood of her Insta Stories increasingly changed as the German invasion drew nearer. Though set in the past, her stories were accompanied by emoticons and the contemporary language of the Internet. Eva used hashtags such as #lifeduringwar, and with time began tagging her location with “GHETTO”. The creators wanted to answer the question: what if the girl had Instagram at the time of the Shoah?
- If we want to bring the memory of the Holocaust to the younger generation, we have to take it to where they are. And they are on Instagram - explained Mati Kochavi, one of the creators of the project.
The campaign was promoted in Israel, among others, through large-format advertising. It sparked a discussion there about how and whether it is even appropriate to talk about the Holocaust on social media. To date, the profile has amassed 1.2 million followers.
Anna Nicz
The article was publised on 27 January 2021 in Spider’s Web+ magazine