Holocaust survivor Tova Friedman becomes TikTok star aged 85
Tova Friedman says the videos are for those who “don’t like the classes in school, who don’t like the way the teachers teach or whatever”.
Thursday 23 March 2023 16:43, UK
Tova Friedman3:14
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85-year-old Holocaust survivor on becoming a TikTok sensation
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A holocaust survivor who hid among dead bodies at the Auschwitz concentration camp has become a TikTok star at the age of 85.
Tova Friedman features in videos filmed by her 17-year-old grandson, Aron Goodman, in the US state of New Jersey.
Since they began posting them in September 2021, they have attracted 75 million views.
Ms Goodman was just six when she was held at Auschwitz in 1944 and 1945.
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TikTok is a “fabulous medium for the Holocaust, for young people who don’t want to read the books”, Ms Friedman said.
It is for those who “don’t like the classes in school, who don’t like the way the teachers teach or whatever”.
“Here they are, listening,” she pointed out.
Some of those commentating on the videos say they learned very little, or even nothing, about the Holocaust in class.
The most-watched videos are the “ones that show her number”, Aron said – the inscription that was tattooed onto prisoners’ arms at Auschwitz.
“People around the world can’t really get the chance to see a survivor, to see the history on their arm,” he said.
“So social media and TikTok is the way we kind of impart our message and show the evidence of the Holocaust that people unrightfully deny.”
One of the TikToks features black-and-white footage of Ms Friedman with other Jewish children in early 1945.
She pushes up her sleeve to show the tattooed number on her forearm.
The film was shot by the Soviet military a week after they liberated the camp.
Tova Friedman and her grandson Aron Goodman. Pic: AP
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Aron says TitTok is the ‘way we impart our message’. Pic: AP
Ms Friedman’s mother, who was out of frame nearby, taught her to survive by not making eye contact with the guards and hiding among dead bodies.
Her mother was very unhappy after the war and died in her mid-40s.
Aron said he makes the videos to counter antisemitic speech online and educate the TikTok generation about the horrors of the Holocaust.
“We need to focus on the history and warn people where hate can lead if it’s unchecked, if no one does anything about it,” the teenager said.
Speaking about creating a life after such an appalling atrocity, Ms Friedman, who works as a therapist and social worker, said: “Life is resilient and you can live again.
“This is what I’d like to let people know. It’s the hope that humanity can rebuild itself.”
