Yad Vashem, Facebook International partner to commemorate Holocaust victims

For the first time, the IRemember Wall will be available in six languages.

By World Israel News Staff

Gabor Neumann was born on 10 February 1940 in Bekescsaba, Hungary. The son of Elek and Margrit Neumann, Gabor was only four years old when he was deported to Auschwitz and murdered on 29 June 1944. Gabor is one of the 6,000,000 Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

To mark the U.N.-sanctioned International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Holocaust (27 January), members of the public around the world will have the opportunity to commemorate victims such as Gabor via Yad Vashem’s unique online commemorative project, the “IRemember Wall,” Facebook International and Yad Vashem-World Holocaust Remembrance Center announced Friday in a press release.

Each participant will be randomly linked to one of the names found in Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, which today includes the names of 4,800,000 Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust. Their names will then appear on the IRemember Wall together. Facebook will use its platform and resources in order to encourage global awareness and outreach of this meaningful project.

“In advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem is partnering with Facebook International to promote the IRemember Wall, now available in six languages – English, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German and Russian – for the first time,” explains Iris Rosenberg, Director of Yad Vashem’s Communications Division.

“This project will create a meaningful opportunity for people all over the world to remember the victims of the Holocaust in their own language.” Rosenberg adds, “By partnering together with Facebook International, we are able to reach a wider international audience, which is crucial in keeping the memory of the Jewish victims alive and the meanings of the Holocaust relevant to the challenges of today’s reality.”

Social media users become ambassadors of memory

This year, the IRemember Wall has a new feature – after being matched, the public can then add additional names of Holocaust victims from the Database of Shoah Victims’ Names to the IRemember Wall. They will then be able to share information about the individual/s they were paired with via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Each Holocaust victim has a personal story, and social media users can therefore become ambassadors of memory, responsible for promulgating the voices of those who were murdered.

“I had the great privilege of visiting Yad Vashem in August and it was a moment I will never forget,” said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. “I am so grateful for all that Yad Vashem does to honor the victims of the Holocaust – including this incredible IRemember Wall project. Facebook is honored to be a part of the project and help tell the story of the millions of women, men, and children murdered by the Nazis and those who were complicit in their murder. They deserve to be remembered so this never happens again.”

This is the second year that Yad Vashem has partnered with Facebook to promote the IRemember Wall. In 2019, Yad Vashem reached 700,000 Facebook users in 149 countries worldwide.