When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Europe in March 2020, and from there spread throughout the world, among several cultural institutions that closed their doors to visitors were also Holocaust memorials. In contrast to prestigious project that defined digital Holocaust memory before, such as the use of virtual reality and 3-D technology, most institutions relocated on social media platforms establishing #DigitalMemorials or introducing new mediated forms of #RememberingFromHome. Audiovisual media play a central role in the digital commemoration in times of COVID-19 as well as image and moving-image based social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube that turned into engaging commemorative spaces. The project analyses the current shift of Holocaust memory towards social media memory in context of the digital transformation of Holocaust memory in recent years.

This project received funding through a Visiting Fellowship, sponsored by the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the European Forum at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Related publications:

Ebbrecht-Hartmann T. (2020) Commemorating from a distance: the digital transformation of Holocaust memory in times of COVID-19. Media, Culture & Society. December 2020. DOI: 10.1177/0163443720983276

Ebbrecht-Hartmann T (2020) Entfernte Erinnerung. Wie Gedenkstätten auf die COVID-19 Pandemie reagieren. E-Newsletter International School for Holocaust Studies Yad Vashem, November 15, 2020

Ebbrecht-Hartmann T. (2020) Die Erinnerung an den Holocaust in Zeiten von COVID-19. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, in: Zeitgeschichte-online, September 2020. 

Ebbrecht-Hartmann T. (2020) Transformation of Holocaust Memory in Times of COVID-19. IWM Corona Blog,  May 6, 2020.