Five-hour disappearance of Auschwitz museum and memorial's new Facebook page was 'due to a technical problem'

The Facebook page of the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, launched on Tuesday, can now be reached again. The page has gained a lot of media attention over the past few days; but from 3.30pm yetserday, those who tried to visit it were redirected to the Facebook start page. It took hours until the page came back up.

"The site was offline due to a technical problem.", explains museum official Pawel Sawicki this morning. "We wanted to add a new box and were not able to. Therefore the side was broken for about five hours. But with the help of Facebook technicians the problem was fixed around 9pm." Since the page came back it has already gained another 1,000 "fans". The museum has also added photos and an interview with Marian Kołodziej, a Polish scenographer and former prisoner of Auschwitz; it is aiming to constantly develop the page.

Although the Auschwitz memorial is not the first Holocaust-related organisation to appear on Facebook, most of the Facebook groups dedicated to Auschwitz are started by individuals. One exception is the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which opened a fan page on Facebook with about 2,250 followers. The centre, which is dedicated to teaching lessons of the Holocaust for future generations, also started to use Twitter @simonwiesenthal. The use of the social networks seems logical, since the idea of organisations dedicated to memorialisting the Holocaust is to reach out to as many people as possible. Indeed the arrival of Holocaust organisations on social networks comes rather late compared with that of groups that promote race hate.

In May a report found that militants and hate groups were increasingly using social networking sites as propaganda tools to recruit new members. The social network came under heavy fire for hosting pages promoting hatred against Jews. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre reported back then a 25% rise in "problematic" social networking groups within a year. Facebook and experts from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre met to focus on the problem. The centre launched its own Facebook page a few months later.

Artist Ottmar Hörl says his 1,250 gnomes making Nazi salutes in Straubing are a satirical comment on the rise of fascism

In pictures: Ottmar Hörl's Nazi gnomes

• Kate Connolly in Berlin
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009 18.33 BST
• Article history

Ottmar Hörl's Nazi gnomes in Straubling, Germany. Photograph: Armin Weigel/EPA

Pint-sized, plastic and the height of kitsch they may be, but no one in Germany would usually think twice about seeing a garden gnome, given there are 25 million of them across the country.

But a battery of 1,250 of them that appeared on a square in a Bavarian town has caused an outcry, not least because their arms are in a Nazi salute.

The artist Ottmar Hörl placed the gnomes in the town of Straubing, close to Munich, in an installation called Dance With the Devil.

It follows controversy sparked by a single, golden Hitler-saluting gnome crafted by Hörl that prosecutors tried to remove from an art gallery in the summer on the grounds that Nazi symbols were prohibited in public.

They later dropped the case, recognising that the piece was satirical, and the artist has since seen a run on requests for his creations.

Hörl, 59, who has made other mass reproductions, including a group of praying dwarfs made in the image of Pope Benedict that provoked a similar row, said his gnomes were meant to highlight the rise of fascism in Germany and were a "historical social gesture".

"I want to show that there is far-right thought in the heads of all of us," he said, adding that gnomes were a particularly fitting method for conveying his message "in a lighter and unpatronising way, at the same time as being strong enough to provoke a reaction.

"As long as I manage to polarise, I'm on the right track," he added.

Hörl's 39cm plastic gnomes, which went on display today for five days, were financed by the local wing of the Social Democratic party (SPD).

Hans Lohmeier, of the SPD, said the party agreed to cover the €20,000 cost of the installation after the town's cultural committee twice refused to do so. Summing up the local reaction, he said: "There are some who say 'what do we want with this tripe?', others who say it's endangering their kids, but many others have understood what this is all about."

By Raffi Berg BBC News

Auschwitz's Facebook page follows the launch of its channel on YouTube

The Polish authorities in charge of Auschwitz have launched an official site for the former Nazi death camp on the social networking website Facebook.

A spokesman said the move was aimed at reaching the younger generation and educating them about the Holocaust.

It follows the launch by Auschwitz - now a state museum - of a YouTube channel earlier this year.

More than a million people - 90% of them Jews - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz during World War II.

"We're always trying for new ways of reaching people, and in today's world one of the most popular tools is the internet, and on the internet millions of people use Facebook," said Auschwitz Museum official Pawel Sawicki.

More than a million people have visited Auschwitz so far this year, the majority of them young people.

"If our mission is to educate the younger generation to be responsible in the contemporary world, what better tool can we use to reach them than the tools they use themselves?" said Mr Sawicki.

The Facebook page contains news and information about the museum, links to its YouTube channel and official website, and a discussion board. The first topic is about whether Auschwitz should have a presence on Facebook.

"The Facebook page will provide a place for discussion which is not available on the official website," said Mr Sawicki.

"We want it to be a place of discourse but of course we won't let anyone do anything that may abuse the memory of the victims and this place.

"So far, it's just an experiment. We'll see how people react," he said.