Hebrew U study examines pandemic’s effects on how we commemorate Holocaust

Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day tomorrow, a new Hebrew University study examines how the pandemic has changed the ways we commemorate.

Researchers from the Communication and Journalism Department say educators have successfully leveraged new forms of Holocaust remembrance using social media tools, including memory-related hashtags, “live” stories from memorial sites and video talks with Holocaust survivors.

“While we have already been experiencing a transition where forms of social media and digital content have been increasingly recognized as legitimate expressions of commemoration, the severe restrictions of coronavirus both accelerated this process but also created a far more accepting culture for the role these media must play,” says the university’s Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann.