You Tubers standing against hate in a remembrance of the Holocaust

With it being holocaust Remembrance Day a number of You Tubers have changed their user profile to images that stir memories of the holocaust. Although few in number it has not gone unnoticed. They have also uploaded holocaust related videos and posted comments throughout the channel.

As a remembrance to the millions that died under the banner of National socialism they have not only showed that it is not forgotten but have made a poignant stand against the rise of far right nationalism and those who glorify the hate regime of Nazi Germany.

Let not those who died for a political hate policy be ever forgotten.

When They Came For Me

When the Nazis came for the communists

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

Then they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

I did not protest;

I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

I did not speak out;

I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Keeping the memory of Auschwitz alive in a digital world

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are playing a part in reaching out to young people on Holocaust Memorial Day – but do they really have an impact?
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?"

A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

A collection of speeches by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is Italy’s second-most downloaded iPhone application on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The application, called iMussolini, is available on Apple’s online store for 79 euro cents ($1.1). It has been downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster film Avatar, according to Apple Inc.’s Italian iTunes store. A wallpaper application is the most downloaded item.

The Mussolini application makes 100 of the so-called Duce’s speeches available on the iPhone. Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 until his death in 1945 at the end of World War II. His granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a politician and ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

“It’s a delicate page in our history that should never be forgotten,” Luigi Marino, the 25-year-old creator of the application, told Bloomberg News in an e-mail. “I’m stunned by the success of the application. I’ve had complaints, but also lots of positive feedback asking me to keep updating.”

Marino, a native of Naples, gets to keep 70 percent of the proceeds from the application, which has jumped to about 1,000 downloads a day from 55 on Jan. 21, when it first went online.

A Milan-based spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

Auschwitz liberation marked on Holocaust Memorial Day

The 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is being marked at events across the UK on Holocaust Memorial Day.
Holocaust and genocide survivors will join in a national commemoration event at the Guildhall in London later.
The Archbishop of Canterbury urged people to listen to the survivors' stories but also remember their legacy.
He also warned against "attitudes in ourselves and in others which were the harbingers of the Holocaust".

The theme for the 10th annual Holocaust Memorial Day is Legacy of Hope, which focuses on the lessons future generations can learn from the Holocaust.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chief executive Carly Whyborn said the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp was a "hugely important landmark".

The words of Holocaust survivors should set an example, she added.

"They don't talk about revenge or hatred, they don't talk about enacting revenge on anybody, they talk about hope, they talk about creating a cohesive society for all of us," Ms Whyborn said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, warned against "dehumanising attitudes".

"We need to be vigilant about every expression of ungenerous feeling towards people in need and all who may for a time be dependent on the wider community - the refugees and asylum seekers," he said.

"We need to be alert to the signs of a casual attitude to the value of human lives, whether by acts of terrorism or more subtly, in relation to disability, or the beginning or end of life."
Holocaust Memorial Day is marked with the intention of remembering and honouring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and those from subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and the ongoing atrocities in Darfur.

St. Petersburg Police Detain Far-Right Activist in Shooting of Anti-Fascist

Police in St. Petersburg, Russia detained a suspect in the shooting of member of an anti-fascist group, according to a January 21, 2010 report by the Regnum news agency. The suspect is a 29 year old male who is a member of a far-right group. He faces charges of "hooliganism" and simple assault, though police are checking to see if they can tie him to other unsolved crimes