Proving that social media really is changing the way we
interact, advocate and raise awareness, the United Nations and the Anne Frank
Center USA are honoring Yom Ha’Shoah in a very new way – using Twitter.
Last week, the two organizations launched a Twitter campaign
for students in memory of Anne Frank, one of the Holocaust’s most recognized
victims, whose compelling World War II diary is still widely used as reading
and educational material.
The thrust of the campaign is this: Students are asked to “travel back in
time” and write to Anne through 140-character tweets, essentially
pretending to communicate with her from her family’s hiding spot in Amsterdam.
The project
website asks, “If Anne Frank had had a way to receive Tweets while in
hiding and could have been communicating in secret with other young people in
the world about the persecution and hatred that her family and friends were
experiencing, what messages of support would you have sent Anne? What would you
have told Anne that you have learned from her life and experience?”
Kimberly Mann, Manager of the Holocaust and the UN Outreach Programme in the
Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division, said of the project,
“This exercise is meant to help young people make a meaningful connection
to the Holocaust through the words of a courageous young girl.”
Tweets to Anne should be directed at @UnandHolocaust; the project
will last until Yom Ha’Shoah, Holocaust remembrance Day, on April 11. So what
would you tell Anne Frank? Let us know in the comments or include us in our
tweet (@theRAC).