With the excuse of a documentary, on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance day we invited some people in a tattoo shop and proposed them one they couldn’t expect: the identification number of one of the last Auschwitz survivors, Nedo Fiano.

Then we told them his story: having dedicated his life to remembering that horror to let us know about it, Nedo is now losing his memory; thus, it is up to us to remember for him.

The video has moved the country, inviting the audience to visit a dedicated website named after the number tattooed on Nedo’s arm: a5405.com

Here, the users had the chance to keep Nedo’s memory alive interpreting his pieces of memory as if they were their own. Thanks to people of every age, race and religion a5405.com has become an actual virtual archive of Nedo’s memory, preserving and keeping it ready for the future generations.

With the excuse of shooting a documentary we involved a number of people in a stunt, set in a tattoo shop. We proposed them an unexpected tattoo: Nedo Fiano’s identification number in Auschwitz. Their shocked, moved reactions to Nedo’s story have become a video which was posted by the associations Sons of Shoah and CEDEC on their social channels on the Holocaust Remembrance day. The video ended with the invitation to keep Nedo’s memory alive by visiting the dedicated site a5405.com

The film went viral over Italian social networks and reached all the country’s major newspapers and TVs. And, being inspired by the action of celebrities and influencers as well, a huge number of people have chosen to keep Nedo’s memory alive by interpreting his pieces of memory as if they were their own on a5405.com, in order to preserve not just his memory, but that of humankind.

The project’s effect was huge.

On a day that was already filled up with commemorative events, it captured the attention of the whole country with zero investment on media.

It went viral in a few hours, being shared millions of times on social networks.

Magazines like GQ, Vanity Fair, SkyNews, along with the major national newspapers like La Repubblica and La Stampa have dedicated dossiers and articles to the project, which ended up involving 140+ countries and millions of people.

Many have decided to actively participate, interpreting Nedo’s memories with video and audio recordings on a5405.com.

Among them were also many national and international celebrities, like Roberto Benigni, director and main actor of “Life is beautiful”, who had never endorsed any advertising, nor nonprofit initiative before.

Moreover, for its effectiveness in telling the Holocaust tragedy through the new media, the website has become teaching material in Italian schools and universities.

Today, to spread the importance of the Holocaust remembrance, books and films are no longer enough: to actively involve the youth, we need to tell the Holocaust with a new language that takes advantage of the new media potentials. We chose to rely on the striking effectiveness of a stunt, the ‘viralness' of social networks and a user-generated content website. It is only thanks to those media that we could tell and let millions of users live the story of Nedo Fiano, one of the last Auschwitz survivors, who is now losing his memory.

In a world infected with populism, fanaticism and racial hatred, it is crucial to keep the Shoah memory alive among everybody and pass it on to the new generations. Needing this message to spread everywhere but not being able to count on any media investment, only one chance is left: to take advantage of viral diffusion on social networks. But triggering such process is only possible with a strong story like that of Nedo Fiano, one of the last Auschwitz survivors who is now losing his memory. This story was told by filming a stunt and let the video spread over social networks which reached millions of people on the Holocaust Remembrance day. Such people have then become an active part in preserving and perpetuating the memory of that horror, as they interpreted Nedo Fiano’s stories on the dedicated website, keeping his memory alive and preserving it for the future generations.

Today, the direct witnesses of the Holocaust are fewer and fewer. And one of the last, Nedo Fiano, a man who has dedicated his whole life to remembering that horror, is now losing his memory.

CEDEC Foundation and Sons of the Shoah association, who have always taken care of valuing and perpetuating the Shoah memories, asked us to carry out a project for the International Holocaust Remembrance day, which needed to be not just a mere commemoration, but an actual invitation to the audience to carry forward the message of the Holocaust memory to the future generations.

To spread the message of the importance of the Shoah memory everywhere, especially among the new generations, with an effective but respectful language, given the enormity of this tragedy.