An influencer who was filmed posing at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, leaving an onlooker “horrified beyond words,” has caused outrage after the clip gained millions of views on TikTok.
The footage was posted by the TikTok account Influencers in the Wild (@influencersinthewild) who are known for sharing ridiculous videos of influencers posing in public places.
The blonde woman who was sporting a black sports bra and leggings can be seen sitting on one of the concrete slabs and adjusting to pose for the photographer that was with her.
After this, the photographer gives the woman some instructions and she then leans back with her hands, moving her head to prevent her hair from being messed up by a gust of wind.
At the same time, the pair were being filmed by an unseen man, while a woman can be heard sharing her disgust at the influencer and photographer, saying: “I’m horrified beyond words.”
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The Holocaust Memorial, which is officially known as Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, opened in Berlin in 2005 and was designed by architect Peter Eisenman, and engineered by Buro Happold.
It’s purpose is to remember and honour the memory of the Jewish victims during the Holocaust in World War II.
The design spans 19,000 square metres and includes 2,711 concrete slabs of different heights.
Visit Berlin describes the memorial as “A place of contemplation, a place of remembrance and warning.”
Since the TikTok account shared the clip, it has been viewed a staggering 12m times, with 1.5m likes and nearly 28,000 comments from viewers shared their disdain for the woman’s actions.
One person wrote: “‘I’m horrified beyond words.’ That sums it up.”
“I would have interrupted and told them to leave. Sorry but this is unacceptable and someone should have said something,” another person said.
Though others didn’t see a problem with what the influencer was doing, saying that she might not have known what the memorial was for or that she could be bringing awareness to the memorial with her social media following.
One person wrote: “So, she’s just taking a picture... y’all reaching.”
“Umm she’s using her platform to bring awareness to the memorial? I don’t see the issue,” another person said.
Someone else added: “Maybe she’s a tourist and didn’t know that?”
“The memorial encourages adults, children etc to literally use it however they want. That was the whole point by the architect,” a fourth person replied.
This person is referring to comments made by the architect Peter Eisenman back in 2017 about what visitors choose to do at the memorial.
“People have been jumping around on those pillars forever. They’ve been sunbathing, they’ve been having lunch there and I think that’s fine.”
He added: “It’s like a catholic church, it’s a meeting place, children run around, they sell trinkets. A memorial is an everyday occurrence, it is not sacred ground.”
Eisenman also said there was a clear difference between his design and burial sites such as Auschwitz.
“But there are no dead people under my memorial. My idea was to allow as many people of different generations, in their own ways, to deal or not to deal with being in that place. And if they want to lark around I think that’s fine.”
However, many weren’t going to let the influencers’ actions slide and hit back in the comments.
One person said: “The people saying ‘the artist said it’s ok to take photos’ are completely missing the point of why this is disrespectful.”
“‘The artist said it’s ok to take photos,’ it’s not about taking a photo it’s about how she’s taking them,” another person said.
Someone else added: “‘It’s supposed to be used in everyday life,’ yes, as a reminder of a tragedy.”
