TikTok trend showing fake Holocaust victims is hurtful, Auschwitz Museum says

TikTok creators are pretending to be Holocaust victims in a new trend that has sparked worldwide criticism.

The Auschwitz Museum in Poland responded to the trend Wednesday and said the videos can be “hurtful and even considered offensive.”

In the videos, TikTok users show themselves with makeup appearing as if they were burned or bruised. Some speak into the camera about how they died, and in others text appears that shows the cause of death for the fictional Holocaust victim they are portraying.

Some videos feature Bruno Mars’ song “Locked out of Heaven” as the soundtrack.

Creators told Wired they made the videos as an educational tool or to “spread awareness” about the Holocaust.

The videos are “dangerously close or are already beyond the border of trivialization of history and being disrespectful to the victims,” the Auschwitz Museum said Wednesday in a Twitter post.

“Some were not created to commemorate anyone, but to become part of an online trend. This is very painful,” it added.

But the museum said it did not want to shame and attack the young people because some videos appear sincere.

“Social media is part of our everyday lives and communication,” the museum further stated. “That is why we should continuously raise awareness that not every social media activity can commemorate the Holocaust. It always demands respect toward the victims, proper language and context as well as factual accuracy.”

A spokesperson for the United States Holocaust Museum told Insider that imitating Holocaust experiences is offensive and dishonors their memory.

A Jewish woman commented on many of the videos in a Twitter thread last week. She called them a “callous mockery.”

“People need to be properly taught about the Holocaust, not make it into a disgusting trend,” she wrote in one of the comments.

Maddy Albert wrote in an opinion piece for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the content is “trauma porn.”

“By sharing these videos in such a nonchalant and triggering way, on a platform mostly used for silly jokes and distractions, you disrespect the families of Jews and the many others who perished in the Holocaust.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 9:16 AM with the headline "TikTok trend showing fake Holocaust victims is hurtful, Auschwitz Museum says."