Overview

TikTokers Pretending to Be Holocaust Victims or simply Holocaust POVs refers to a viral POV roleplays trend participants of which narrate short stories from a point of view of a Holocaust victim. After reaching popularity on TikTok in mid-August 2020, the trend became a subject of controversy online after it was condemned in a series of viral tweets. The larger trend, which also includes similar POV roleplays of other traumatic events such as 9/11, has been referred to as Trauma Porn.

Background

While the exact origin of the Holocaust POV trend on TikTok is unknown, some of the earlier videos in which TikTok users recorded short narratives performed from the point of view of a Holocaust victim were posted on the platform in mid-March 2020 (examples shown below).^[1][2][3]

The trend received a burst in popularity on TikTok in August 2020, with users recording multiple viral POV roleplays of Holocaust victims, often putting on makeup to give themselves an according look.

On August 18th, 2020, Twitter^[4] user @Mowgli_Lincoln created a thread in which they posted multiple viral examples of the trend, condemning it. The first tweet received over 530 retweets and 560 likes in one week (shown below).

@tiktok_us did these girls really cosplay a holocaust victim and narrative for a tik tok.. such a callous mockery of the genocide of millions of jews and other marginalized groups, i feel sick #Holocaust #tiktok #holocaustchallenge (more to follow) pic.twitter.com/ZeDeddkRQ8

— Patricia🏳️‍🌈✡️ (@Mowgli_Lincoln) August 18, 2020

Online Reactions

On the same day, the thread sparked viral debate on Twitter^[5][6][7] about the TikTok trend (example tweets shown below).

In the following days, the Holocaust POVs trend and the reactions to it were extensively covered by the media, including articles by Wired,^[8] Daily Mail,^[9] The Sun^[10] and Insider.^[11]

Following the controversy, multiple Holocaust POV TikToks were removed by the users who uploaded them.

Search Interest

External References