If I’ve had to say it once, I’ve had to say it a thousand times: the internet never forgets. The life of a US Presidential hopeful is constantly under scrutiny, and people on social media are always willing to point out when you’ve goofed up. This time around, people have found a photo of Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg posing like a model at the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
The picture was originally from 2017, and was posted by Pete Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten. It shows Pete looking back over his shoulder while walking through the memorial, and is captioned “this guy”. Now, I’m all for Insta posts showing off your significant other, but model shots at a Holocaust memorial? That certainly is a choice.
The Buttigieg’s are far from the only ones behaving disrespectfully at the site. People have been taking pictures doing yoga on the memorial, jumping joyfully between the concrete blocks, and otherwise just taking happy snaps on what should be a solemn place of remembrance.
Earlier this year, Pink had to fend off similar criticism after she posted a photo of her two kids chasing each other through the memorial.
It’s not just Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Back in March, the official Twitter account for the Auschwitz Memorial had to ask people – mainly influencers – to stop taking cute pictures at a place that saw over a million people killed.
Next to pictures of people balancing on the railway tracks, they wrote “There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths.”
I can’t believe it needs saying, but millions of people died in The Holocaust, and memorials are not a place to get your perfect Insta photo. If you’re visiting one, you’re probably in Europe somewhere – walk 10 mins to the next ridiculously photogenic location that isn’t there to mark an atrocity.