Holocaust

Surveying Global Digital Holocaust Memory Practice
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Surveying Global Digital Holocaust Memory Practice

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Surveying Global Digital Holocaust Memory Practice

By Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden We’re investigating how Holocaust museums, memorial sites, libraries, and educational organisations use digital media in their work. Find out how you can get involved in this week’s blog. Launched earlier this year, the digital Holocaust memory survey seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of digital practice and strategies across this global digital memoryscape. Watch the video interview with Lab Director Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden to find out more. https://youtu.be/CZgkEK5sJOA What Do We Want to Know? What type of digital projects are being created and have historically been created across the professional Holocaust education and memory sector What social media channels are used and to what extent accounts of professional organisations are confronted with denial, distortion and misinformation How/ if AI and machine learning are being used in Holocaust education and memory organisations How digital engagement is managed internally, from a strategic through to an operational level. Why? One of our core goals is to build digital literacies and capacities across the sector, and this survey will help us to identify key areas where professionals working in Holocaust museums, memorial sites, libraries and educational organisations (or what we refer in shorthand to as the ‘Holocaust [...]

By Victoria Grace Walden|2025-11-10T14:42:20+00:004 September 2025|

Why We Shouldn’t Be Surprised about #AI #Auschwitz, and What We Can Do About It
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Why We Shouldn’t Be Surprised about #AI #Auschwitz, and What We Can Do About It

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Why We Shouldn’t Be Surprised about #AI #Auschwitz, and What We Can Do About It

By Prof. Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Last week the BBC reported on spammers sharing ‘AI slop’ images of Auschwitz for profit. In this week’s blog, we respond to their article, reflecting on our years of research into Holocaust memory and AI. On Friday 29th August, the BBC published an article with the headline: ‘BBC reveals web of spammers profiting from AI Holocaust images.’ Whilst this might seem shocking, it shouldn’t be, and far from ‘spamming’, which can be considered a flippant action, the individuals involved in these profit-making schemes are using social media in conscious and sophisticated ways – as its logics intend it to be used. This should make us stop and ask: are platforms like Facebook good for Holocaust memory? On one hand, it would be easy (especially in the current political climate) to say, ‘not really’. On the other hand, if Holocaust museums and educational organisations want their authority to remain recognised widely, they need to be not only be present on these sites but enhance their visibility. As our previous research has argued (Walden 2021), professional Holocaust organisations need to adopt the strategies of apparent ‘bad actors’ if they want their messages to circulate as much as [...]

By Victoria Grace Walden|2025-09-02T13:32:24+01:002 September 2025|

Holocaust Education and Social Media: What Young People Really Think
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Holocaust Education and Social Media: What Young People Really Think

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Holocaust Education and Social Media: What Young People Really Think

by Dr Kate Marrison Dr Marrison reports from a recent event which brought together young people from across the UK to further their understanding of the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance. We’re familiar with the pros and cons of social media, but what role can it play in Holocaust education, memorialisation and commemoration? This was the topic of a workshop I ran this month in London with an audience of 30 16-to 25 year olds at the Holocaust Educational Trust’s annual Ambassador Conference (AmCon). The Ambassadors come from across the UK and from a range of backgrounds. The initiative tasks young people to be ‘the driving force’ behind efforts to make sure that British people understand and remember the Holocaust.  Holocaust survivors and other educators were also present. The workshop explored how museums, memorial sites and professional memory institutions harness social media. We kicked off with a quiz asking which were the most popular social media platforms they engage with – Instagram, Tiktok and Snapchat – and which three words describe their thoughts about social media being used for Holocaust education. Attitudes varied from those optimistic about the potential of social media (‘educational’, ‘important’ and ‘useful’), to those who expressed [...]

By Kate Marrison|2024-11-28T11:17:22+00:001 August 2024|

Playing the Holocaust – Part 1
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Playing the Holocaust – Part 1

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Playing the Holocaust – Part 1

Recordings from our online discussion 'Playing the Holocaust - Part 1' held on Friday 20th November 2020.

By Victoria Grace Walden|2024-11-28T11:23:43+00:0024 November 2020|