MTV's Holocaust ad: It could happen to you

Several MTV ads run in 2008 commemorating Holocaust day were resurrected by Facebook users on Holocaust Remembrance Day this year, stirring a buzz with their graphic images of modern everyday people suddenly finding themselves under Holocaust-like circumstances.

The two 30 second ads were created by the Gedenk Movement, whose mission as stated on their website is to "raise youth awareness about anti-Semitism, racism, and their brutal consequences." The word "gedenk" means "remember" in Yiddish.


The first video shows people crowded into a subway car that suddenly rattles and turns dark as uniformed and armed men storm the car, herding people violently out of it. The scene then transforms into a picture from the time of the Holocaust depicting a similar scene. It ends with the words "The Holocaust happened to people like us."

The second video is similar to the first, showing a family in a modern day apartment when suddenly armed men knock on the door and push the family into the back of a crowded truck. The image again transforms into a real picture taken during the Holocaust with the same message.

The videos have generated hundreds of comments on YouTube, many of them reiterating the often quoted sentiment of "never again."