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The Auschwitz Museum says people should not be ashamed to take part in the trend
A TikTok trend in which people pretend to be victims of the Holocaust is “hurtful and abusive,” says the Auschwitz Museum.
Users shared clips of themselves with fake bruises, wearing clothes that Jews were instructed to wear by the Nazis.
The museum – on the site of the former Nazi concentration camp – said some of the videos on the app were “outside the bounds of trivialization of history”.
But it warned against ‘removing, shaming and attacking’ those involved.
The trend has been heavily criticized on social media as “disrespectful” and “disruptive”.
In a statement, the museum said: “Stories of people imprisoned and murdered in Auschwitz are incredibly tragic, painful and emotional.”
It adds that some of the videos “were not made to please everyone, but to become part of an online trend”.
“This is very painful,” the museum said in a statement posted on Twitter.
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However, it adds that the “motivation of some people” came from posting the videos “from the need to find a way to express personal memory.
“They use the symbolic language known to them.”
Instead of embarrassing those who participate, it should be used as an “educational challenge,” the museum says.
The Holocaust saw the genocide of six million European Jews and more than a million people were killed in Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945.
TikTok has not yet responded to Newsbeat’s request for comment.
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