TikTok Users Work to Preserve the Memory of their Jewish Family Members on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and also marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Auschwitz, located in Oświęcim, Poland, was notoriously one of the most deadly concentration camps run by the Nazi party of Germany throughout World War II. The camp imprisoned, tortured, and killed thousands of Jewish, LGBTQ+, and Romani people.

World leaders have honored the victims of the Holocaust across the world today. The U.S. first ever second gentleman, Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish, visited a memorial at Auschwitz today.

And amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Kyiv to speak on the importance of honoring the legacy of the victims. Zelensky has several family members who perished in the Holocaust.

Mere decades later, historians and Gen Z have realized that we are the last generation to have the opportunity to meet Holocaust survivors and learn from them first hand. Many recognize that the spread of violent and hateful rhetoric is what ultimately led to Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, and ultimately the Holocaust.

Gen Z TikTok creators who have family members who survived the Holocaust encourage people to speak out against antisemitic hate speech. It remains a contemporary issue due to several politicians and celebrities, including Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and rapper Ye.

Eitan Bernath is a student at Columbia University and the Principal Culinary Contributor for The Drew Barrymore Show who is known for his cooking and men’s fashion TikTok videos. He is also Jewish, and frequently uses his large social media platform for activism. He posted a brief video about Holocaust education to his social media accounts today.

Other TikTok creators have relatives who survived the Holocaust as young children. Dov Forman created a TikTok page with his 99-year-old great-grandmother, Lily Ebert. Ebert, originally from Hungary, was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Her family now lives in London, U.K. The pair wrote a book of her experiences titled Lily’s Promise, which was released in the U.S. in May 2022.

Their shared TikTok page gives Lily a platform to discuss detailed stories of the atrocities she witnessed at Auschwitz, and for her great-grandson to educate people about Jewish cultural and religious traditions. Today, Ebert spoke on BBC News for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Dov also shared a photo of his great-grandmother at Auschwitz on his Instagram, and wrote about the importance of memorializing the ordinary people who were victims of a genocide.

Tova Friedman and her grandson Aron took a similar route. Tova was even younger than Lily when she arrived at Auschwitz. Originally from Poland, Tova and Aron speak of her story of living in the Tomaszaw ghetto. Tova moved to New York City when she was only 12 years old. After receiving degrees from the City College of New York and Rutgers University, she found a passion for social work. She still works as a therapist at the Jewish Family Service of Warren and Somerset Counties in New Jersey. The pair also released a book, titled  The Daughter of Auschwitz.

TikTok creator Miriam Ezagui practices Orthodox Judaism, and frequently uses her platform to educate the masses on the misconceptions regarding her sect of Judaism. Today, she featured her grandmother Lily, a Holocaust survivor, in a video on her TikTok account. She recounted the horrors of Dr. Mengele, who performed illegal experiments on thousands of people.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. is accepting donations to assist in keeping the legacy of the Holocaust’s victims alive. You can donate here today.

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