Holocaust survivors talk online denial in new digital campaign

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (also known as the ‘Claims Conference’) launched a new digital campaign on Thursday called “#CancelHate.” The campaign features Holocaust survivors reading posts online that deny the Holocaust, and then debunk the post’s claims via their own personal experience. 

The Claims Conference will post one of these videos every day for 30 days. Each video ends with the tagline: “Words matter. Cancel hate.”

The campaign is intended to draw attention to rampant disinformation online about the genocide of European Jewry.  A recent study found that about half of American adults have seen Holocaust denial online. In the UK, about a third of adults have. 

Those surveys also found a lack of education about the Holocaust, with 22% of Canadian millennials and Gen Z respondents and answering that they were “not sure if they had heard of the Holocaust.” A quarter of French millennials gave that answer as well.

"Our words are our power"

“Social media offers individuals a place to hide while they spread words of hate,” said Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference. “This campaign shows these are not victimless posts — these mean and vile words deny the first-hand testimony of each and every Holocaust survivor, their suffering and the suffering and often loss of their families.”

Herbert Rubinstein, a Holocaust survivor who read a denial post from that country, said, “I lived through the Holocaust. Six million were murdered. Hate and Holocaust denial have returned to our society today. I am very, very sad about this and I am fighting it with all my might and strength.

“Words matter,” Rubinstein added. “Our words are our power.”