Facebook (META) in Israel has partnered with a group of Holocaust survivors and Israeli celebrities and influencers, for the second year in a row, to launch the “Sharing Memories” project (Zikaron Teacher in Hebrew) ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel on Thursday.
The annual Memorial Day, known in Israel as Hashuah Day, commemorates the six million Jews murdered during World War II. This year it starts on Wednesday evening and ends on Thursday evening.
For the project, each of the Israeli celebrities will run a series of Instagram Stories (Instagram is owned by Meta/Facebook) based on meetings and interviews with Holocaust survivors telling their stories to their social media followers. Stories, a popular Instagram feature in a vertical format that allows users to upload videos, photos, emojis and animations, will start rolling out on Wednesday evening and will be available throughout the next day.
The digital project aims to expose younger audiences — more than half of the 1 billion or so Instagram users ages 13 to 34 — to the true stories of Holocaust survivors, raise awareness about Holocaust remembrance, and shed more light on the living. The conditions of many survivors in Israel, some of whom live below the poverty line. The project is run in collaboration with the Israeli aid organization Latet, which supports some survivors through Aid for Life, an initiative that provides medical, physical and emotional support specifically to Holocaust survivors.
Israel is home to about 165,800 Holocaust survivors, of whom about 50,000 receive additional income from the state, according to the latest data from the Commission for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors, a department of the Ministry of Social Equality.
Celebrities and content creators participating in the “Sharing Memories” project include singer and internet personality Anna Zak, Israeli model and actress Yael Shelbia, pop stars Static and Ben L (Liraz Russo and Ben Altafoury), and Israeli-American actresses. Writer Noah Tishby, who was recently chosen as the country’s first-ever special envoy to combat anti-Semitism and delegitimize Israel. A number of organizations will also participate, such as the digital operations of Galgalatz radio station and those of the popular nightly TV show Hazinor.
Meta Israel said that last year the project garnered 3.1 million views in general and raised 500,000 shekels in donations for Holocaust survivors.
Screenshots from Facebook’s “Sharing Memories”, a Holocaust remembrance project that brings together survivors living in Israel with Israeli celebrities to tell Holocaust stories on Instagram.
Mayan Sarij, head of communications at Meta Israel, told The Times of Israel in a phone interview Monday that the idea is to introduce younger generations to the stories of Holocaust survivors.
“We always say ‘never again,’ but we also have an obligation to tell these stories, and we need to engage the younger generations to do so. For them, the Holocaust is a historical event that they learn about in school.
While the campaign targets Israeli audiences, especially teenagers and young adults, and is deployed when Israel celebrates Holocaust Remembrance Day, awareness of the Holocaust in general and younger generations specifically is of particular concern.
A 2020 survey in the United States by the Claims Conference on Material Jewish Claims against Germany found a “disturbing lack of basic knowledge of the Holocaust” among American adults under the age of 40. The report said 63 percent of all national survey respondents, ages 18 to 39, did not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and 36 percent believed that “two million Jews or less” were killed in World War II. Additionally, 48% of respondents “could not name one of the more than 40,000 concentration camps or ghettos” set up by the Nazis and local collaborators across Europe during World War II, according to the report.
The same survey found that about half of respondents said they had been exposed to Holocaust denial or distorted content on social media and elsewhere online.
A separate 2020 Pew Research Center study also found that half of American adults were unaware of basic facts about Nazism and the Holocaust, including how many Jews were killed and how the Nazis came to power.
With the rise of anti-Semitic incidents in recent years, and 2021 being called “the most anti-Semitic year of the past decade” by the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, Jewish leaders have been expressing concern about whether the lack of adequate education and awareness regarding the Holocaust.
Social media platforms, especially Facebook, have no small role to play. Although Facebook finally banned Holocaust denial from the platform in 2020, the Anti-Defamation League said late last year that there were “significant implementation loopholes” that allow deniers to spread hate speech.
A rendering of the new notification that Facebook will use to combat Holocaust denial. (Facebook via JTA)
The organization has urged the social media giant to do more – in the wake of a number of scandals – including one last year based on whistleblower testimony that said Facebook prioritizes its own interests such as making more money over the public good, fueling division, and harming children. . .
Sarrig said Meta/Facebook is committed to removing Holocaust denial content from its platform and has developed “accurate policies” to do so. Over the past year, the company has been directing people searching for information about the Holocaust toward accurate third-party information, using the same approach it has taken to combat misinformation about elections and COVID-19.
At the same time, she said, “We also want to amplify the positives through projects like ‘Sharing Memories’, so we are always looking for that balance.
In Israel, where Sarij grew up, “there was no ‘escape’ from memory of the Holocaust; it was on TV, we met Holocaust survivors in our schools, etc. Today, in this digital age, there is a lot of content available of all kinds, so Such difficult topics can be avoided.”
So we wanted to reach young people via the platforms they already use. “Influencers have the audience, survivors have heroic and important stories to tell, and we wanted to combine the two,” said Sarij, who was behind a separate but similar campaign late last year against cyberbullying and violent political discourse in Israel.
Maayan Sarij, Head of Communications, META in Israel. Follow Favorite
Sarrig said both celebrities and survivors gave very positive feedback about the project, as did the social media audience.
“A lot of these creators are also very young, so to meet the survivors and spend time with them is also a form of education,” she said, adding that moments of endurance included many survivors asking their celebrity partners exactly who they were and watching them have to explain.
“A lot of these people can’t even walk down the street without people coming to them, so it’s humbling,” Sarij said.
“They just want to talk and tell their stories and answer questions and talk about their lives now,” she said of survivors.
Sarij described how it was also important for all parties involved to bring out the present. “Yes, they talk about the past, giving facts about what happened to them and their family, but there were also discussions about common interests, singing, dancing, etc., to show the whole person.”
Sarrig said all of the separate stories, about 20, have been modified into mini-features and will be shown in Israeli high schools this week.
Eran Weintraub, CEO of Latet, said the project was “a victory in three dimensions – an innovative way to embody Holocaust memory and heroism. It raises awareness and mobilizes people on behalf of survivors living among us in distress and need; and makes the topic accessible to young people via Instagram and opinion leaders on Social media “.
“Sharing memories of the Holocaust, helping survivors in need and building a relationship with young people are particularly important goals during these years when the generation that lived through the Holocaust is fading away. Israeli society now has a narrow window of opportunity to do what is needed to create continuity of Holocaust memory among young people and mobilize them to work for those who They still need help,” Weintraub added.
Israelis stand next to their cars as sirens mark a moment of silence across the country in memory of six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 8, 2021 (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
Hashwa Day is one of the most official dates in the Israeli calendar. A number of national remembrance ceremonies usually take place throughout the day including at Yad Vashem. A closing ceremony for the day was held at the Ghetto Fighters House Museum in Kibbutz Lohami Hjitto.
On Thursday mornings, a two-minute siren will sound at 10 a.m., which usually brings Israeli outdoor life to a standstill. Pedestrians stand in their places, buses stop on busy streets and cars stop on major highways, and their drivers stand on the roads with their heads bowed.
Stuart Weiner contributed to this report.
