Israeli social media reacts to the pope’s visit to Auschwitz
As Pope Francis meets with Holocaust survivors in Auschwitz, users took to social media to share their thoughts on the historic visit. More than 1.1 million people were killed in the former Nazi concentration camp.
As the pope walked through the notorious “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work sets you free”) gate at the entrance to Auschwitz, pictures coming from the former concentration camp were too strong for social media users to ignore.
Within an hour of his visit , #Auschwitz began trending as a topic on Twitter with many users sharing personal thoughts.
Multiple tweets and posts praised the pontiff – the third consecutive to make the pilgrimage to the place. They called his visit “emotional” and commented on the image of him walking through the gate as “strong.”
Out of the three successive popes to visit Auschwitz, Pope Francis is the first one who has no personal connection to it: John Paul II hailed from Poland, which was under German occupation at the time the camp was used by the Nazis, while Benedict XVI was German.
The visit has also inevitably touched the hearts of many Israelis, who saw it as a gesture of kindness and respect for the Jewish people and the victims of the Holocaust in particular.
“An extremely powerful image of the pope visiting Auschwitz,” one Israeli journalist tweeted. Others shared the photo of the pontiff passing under the gate, applauding Pope Francis for being humble and modest, “walking on his own, silently, without an orchestra or a chorus.”
“Pope Francis is visiting Auschwitz concentration camp, where he will hold a prayer in the gas chambers area and meet with Holocaust survivors,” Israeli channel 10, one of the most popular in the country, tweeted.
“This has to be the most obsequious pope Christianity has known so far,” an Israeli user tweeted in Hebrew, referring to the pontiff’s pledge to Poland to open its doors to migrants.
Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich prayed in the pope’s presence, reading Psalm 130 in Hebrew, which starts: “From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord.”
“The pope presents in pictures how one can visit the Polish soil – soaked with Jewish blood – alone, bowed headed and silently. We should learn from him and teach ourselves,” this user said, summing up the visit.