By skyforbes 
When genocide becomes a joke, what’s left of our moral compass?
In May 2025, the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt published a comprehensive digital report titled “Der Holocaust als Meme. Wie in digitalen Räumen Geschichte umgedeutet wird.” (The Holocaust as a meme. How history is reinterpreted in digital spaces.)
This study, based on empirical research and media analysis, shows how the Holocaust and National Socialism are increasingly being distorted, trivialized, or instrumentalized in digital environments — especially by younger users on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and in online games. The findings are deeply unsettling, yet crucial to understand for anyone concerned with education, democracy, and digital ethics.
1. Digital worlds and historical amnesia
The report documents how the remembrance of the Holocaust has moved into digital spaces, but there, it often detaches from context and gravity. Instead of learning, many young users are encountering historical figures and events in the form of jokes, memes, or even game characters. What was once unthinkable — the depiction of Anne Frank as a camper in Fortnite, or as a DJ in a gas chamber — is becoming increasingly common.