How do you recount the story of the Holocaust to today’s youth in a way that will make them sit up and listen? You grab them by the guts on the right medium.
Meet @eva.stories – a first person account of Nazi persecution.
Eva Heiman, a 13-year-old girl from Hungary who perished in Auschwitz, left a diary describing the last months of her life. In preparation of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, her diary will be adapted into more than 50 Instagram stories depicting her life which will be published on @eva.stories Instagram account set up especially for this purpose.
Heiman began a diary in February 1944 that continued until the end of May of that year. Just three months and three days after the final entry, Heiman was deported to Auschwitz, where she died.
This new project will retell the last months of Eva’s life through the lens of a smartphone, using Instagram as a platform to share the story. A new photograph will be posted every 30 minutes beginning at 10 am on May 1st until 10 am on May 2nd, Israel Daylight Time, when the siren will sound all over Israel for a minute of silence and remembrance for victims of the Holocaust.
So far, the Instagram account, launched with a teaser trailer and billboards reading, “What if a girl during the Holocaust had Instagram?”
Within the first week, the account had garnered over 120,000 followers. “The real win so far is to see the number of youngsters who have signed up to the page and are for the first time discussing Holocaust Day ahead of time,” the statement said.
