TikTok is known for fun and dance videos. Ironically, on this platform, the North German concentration camp memorial Neuengamme wants to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. The historian and employee of the memorial Iris Groschek explains in an interview how this can be achieved.
SRF: As a memorial, one of your tasks is to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive. Why do you choose a platform like TikTok for this?
Iris Groschek: We hope to reach a young target group on TikTok. In fact, it is also a very political platform where socially critical issues are negotiated. That is why it is a place where historically political education can take place, directly with and in the younger generation.
As a memorial, we have been active on social media for ten years. It is important to us not to be a quiet place, but to take the issues out into the world and be present in people’s everyday lives.
On TikTok, videos are very short, often under 30 seconds. How can you convey information about what happened in such camps in this way?
Of course, the history of the camp cannot be conveyed in 30 seconds. But that’s not what we want to do at all. I believe that many short videos can attract the attention of a Generation Z much faster. Then young people might watch more videos – it’s like a jigsaw puzzle: Many short videos create a big overall picture.
One of the videos begins as an entertainment quiz where you have to name concentration camps. Then two young men provide brief and factual information about Neuengamme. Nevertheless, I swallowed empty about this quiz form. How do you feel about that as a historian?
TikTok is a format that needs to be completely rethought. Memorial sites can certainly swallow empty when it comes to such forms of mediation. We hope that young people will stay tuned and watch more informative videos.
The culture of remembrance is something that has to be constantly renegotiated.
It is always a challenge to consider what is appropriate for such a place on the one hand and what fits the chosen platform on the other. This is the only way we can get attention there and enter into a dialogue with a community.
In fact, some of these videos have been viewed more than 200,000 times. How far can one go in an effort to keep the memory alive?
The culture of remembrance is something that has to be constantly renegotiated. What form may, can, should memory have today and tomorrow? That’s why I find it exciting to try out formats that may seem unusual at first glance and to try out whether commemorative work is possible.
How are the reactions to it?
Very diverse. There are not only positive reactions. The culture of remembrance itself is also negotiated, and there are people who don’t find that appropriate.
We also received a surprising number of comments in this format from TikTok that put the Holocaust into perspective. This has not happened to us in other social media accounts. That was a rather negative surprise for us. This means that we have to accompany our appearance very strongly.
Irene Grüter conducted the interview.