Israel artist Shahak Shapira has launched an art project called “Yolocaust” to shame disrespectful selfie-takers from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.
“Over the last years, I noticed an interesting phenomenon at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin: people were using it as a scenery for selfies. So I took those selfies and combined them with footage from Nazi extermination camps,” Shapira wrote. He found the selfies on Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, and Grindr, and then combined them with the terrifying footage from concentration camps – not forgetting to include the comments, hashtags and “likes” that were posted with the selfies. From photos of people smiling, juggling and doing yoga to comments like “jumping on dead jews” – the artist saw it all on social media and it left him in shock.
“About 10,000 people visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe every day. Many of them take goofy pictures, jump, skate or bike on the 2,711 concrete slabs of the 19,000 m² large structure,” Shapira wrote. “The exact meaning and role of the Holocaust Memorial are controversial. To many, the grey stelae symbolize gravestones for the 6 Million Jews that were murdered and buried in mass graves, or the grey ash to which they were burned to in the death camps.”
Shapira offers to take down any of the selfie takers’ images if they request so by emailing [email protected].
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