On 27 January 1945, on Saturday, at around 9am the first Russian soldier from a reconnaissance unit of the 100th Infantry Division appeared on the grounds of the prisoners' infirmary in Monowitz. The entire division arrived half an hour later," reads the status update on Facebook of the Auschwitz memorial page. More than 50 people so far have clicked to say they "like" this.
Holocaust Memorial Day marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and to keep the memory alive, more and more organisations are turning to social media.
In the UK, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust is taking a new approach. While a memorial ceremony will take place in London's Guildhall alongside hundreds of community events across the UK, the trust has also adapted the act of rememberance for the digital world.
This year, the trust completely changed its website to make it easier for readers to bookmark and share content via social media websites. It now runs a Twitter feed, a Facebook fan page and a YouTube page which features a video narrated by Daniel Radcliffe. The use of digital engagement to keep such memories alive is becoming more and more common, but it is also controversial: it is claimed that it might just be a simple way for users to ease their conscience. As digital critic Evgeny Morozov puts it, there is a danger that this form of activism makes you feel you are engaged when, for example, you join a "Feed Africa" group on Facebook, while you actually don't make a difference at all.
On the other hand, digital involvement is becoming increasingly important as the media landscape changes. So this form of activism could be a way to raise interest and pull in users, especially young people.
"The act signifies a commitment to helping build a safer, inclusive society where the differences between us are respected," says the trust. Within a week, more than 20,000 people have lit a candle on the website and thus gained more information about history and ongoing events.
"The majority of visitors to the Auschwitz memorial are students and other young people," said Auschwitz museum official Pawel Sawicki when the Facebook page was launched. "Our mission is not only to teach them about the history, but to be responsible in the world of today. We should find every possible way to reach out, so why shouldn't we use the same tool in that young people use to communicate?"
