TikToker uses platform to speak out against antisemitism, encourage Holocaust education
Amid a surge in antisemitism, including the ongoing fallout for the rapper formerly known as Kanye West for his antisemitic remarks, singer Montana Tucker said she has had enough. She took to TikTok to speak out against anti-Jewish hate and her own family's Holocaust history to more than 8.4 million people.
"I've made thousands and thousands of videos, and this is by far the most important thing I've ever created and ever done in my entire life," Tucker told "Good Morning America."
The singer and songwriter rose to fame through her social media and has since shared the stage with some of music's biggest names. But on Monday, she took to her platform to share something different – her own grandparent's Holocaust survivor story.
"[The video] has already gotten almost a million views, and the people that have shared, whether they're Jewish and not Jewish, [their] support is just so powerful," said Tucker.
Tucker plans to document the "atrocities of the Holocaust" around the world and retrace her family's steps in a series of videos, shared widely on social media. Tucker said it's poignant that people see the reality of the Holocaust and that share her own experience, including the emotionally raw moments, like her visit to Auschwitz concentration camp, where some of her family members died.
"Going to Auschwitz and standing in the place that my grandma last saw her mother get beaten and taken to the gas chambers. [I was] holding my mom's hand and crying," said Tucker.
She said it is more important than ever to show her followers what the consequences can be as a result of anti-Jewish rhetoric.
"I think [Holocaust education] more important than ever and that's why I said to myself, 'Well, if I have these millions of followers and if I have a younger generation that follows me, maybe I can be that education for them,'" said Tucker.
In the last year, antisemitic incidents rose to 34% – the highest number on record in the United States, according to a study conducted by the Anti-Defamation League. Holocaust Remembrance Day, celebrated on January 27, 2023, will mark just 78 years since the end of the Holocaust.
Tucker said she hopes that her videos can "open a lot of people's eyes" on the horrors that should never happen again.
"We need to put an end to this," she said. "And not just for the Jewish people, but for any race, religion, culture, ethnicity, sexual preference."
Editor's note: Auschwitz was a camp in Polish territory that was occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany. An earlier version of this story attributed ownership of the camp to Poland. We regret the error.
