#WeRemember | Technology, Memory, and the Future of Holocaust Remembrance

Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Holocaust partnered for a high-level panel discussion on how digital platforms and new technologies can safeguard the memory of the Holocaust for future generations.

To watch the event, click here.

Moderated by WJC’s Technology and Human Rights Institute (TecHRI) Executive Director, Yfat Barak-Cheney, the discussion spotlighted the shared responsibility of technology companies and research institutions to preserve the voices of survivors of the Holocaust in ways that young people and average users of tech platforms can easily access. Barak-Cheney opened with a personal story of the discovery of her own grandfather’s powerful testimony of survival at Bergen-Belsen, and how it serves as a driving force behind her professional work.

Delivering opening remarks, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, highlighted how social media platforms are becoming hotspots of Holocaust denial and distortion, and urged governments and tech companies to be more “transparent about how their algorithms curate history” and to take collective responsibility by safeguarding facts.

Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, Director of the Landecker Digital Memory Lab and a professor of Digital Heritage, Memory and Culture, at the University of Sussex, stated that “Holocaust memory is at a turning point, shifting from a living memory to one that's increasingly digital,” identifying three core challenges that come with the change:

Walden explained that the Landecker Digital Memory Lab directly addresses these challenges through its Digital Memory Database—an international resource designed to strengthen transparency, encourage collaboration, and support sustainable, evidence-based approaches to Holocaust education in the digital age.

David Tessler, Meta’s Director of Dangerous Organizations & Individuals Policy, spoke about Meta’s strong policies against Holocaust denial and highlighted Facebook’s search-redirection tool developed in collaboration with the World Jewish Congress that encourages users learn the facts via aboutholocaust.org. TikTok directs application users to the site through a similar platform feature as well.

Tessler also referenced Meta and WJC’s support for the VR-based project Tell Me Inge, which allows Metaverse users to have a conversation with Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher.

Auerbacher, who was unable to attend the event in person, shared remarks via video.

Luc Bernard, a creative director and videogame developer, spoke to the reach of gaming platforms and how they serve as tools to inform younger generations, who are increasingly using the technology as their preferred medium for entertainment. He pointed to potential of his forth-coming initiative, The Light in the Darkness, which tells the story of a Polish-Jewish family living in Nazi-occupied France during the Holocaust. Bernard, who created of the first-ever Holocaust museum in Fortnite with the support of Epic Games, also teaches others emphasized the importance of creativity when engaging the public with the weighty history of the Shoah.

Michal Sarig Kaduri, Executive Director of the Israel Growth Forum, reflected on her organization’s collaboration with March of the Living to bring delegations of tech-platform leaders and executives to march alongside Holocaust survivors last year. She reflected on the experience by sharing that the bonds forged between survivors and corporate leaders leave a lasting impact on how they approach the responsibility of protecting Holocaust legacy on their platforms.