One account tweets about the St Louis, a vessel carrying Jews fleeing Nazi Germany that was turned away from the US

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Twitter users have enlisted the social media platform to help bring to light personal stories of the victims of the Nazi regime on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Over the course of the day, the St Louis Manifest account told the stories of the passengers of the German transatlantic liner which was turned away from the US in 1939. There were 937 people onboard, almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich.

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After the ship was refused permission to dock in Florida and sent back across the Atlantic, 532 passengers were trapped when Germany conquered Western Europe. Just over half survived the Holocaust.

The account was set up by Jewish educator and activist Russel Neiss.

St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) My name is Lore Dublon. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Golleschau pic.twitter.com/nYjdV7Mxvn

St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) My name is Joachim Hirsch. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/pfvJtMpIps

St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) My name is Werner Stein. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/nCgt9V33xm

St. Louis Manifest (@Stl_Manifest) My name is Irmgard Köppel. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/s0ZWjsdYG9

Other poignant posts on Twitter marking Holocaust Remembrance Day featured men, women and children who died in Nazi death camps across Europe during the second world war.

Robert Popper (@robertpopper) Little Uzhu would have grown up to be my cousin. Instead, murdered, aged 6, in the Holocaust. #HolocaustMemorialDay pic.twitter.com/ywV8uo9zqc

Shulem Stern (@ShulemStern) In 1944 my grandfather's family hid out before they were taken off to Marianka then Auschwitz, where they were gassed. #HolocaustMemorialDay

To mark the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, photographer Marina Maral recoloured a photograph taken in Auschwitz of 14-year-old Polish Catholic Czeslawa Kwoka. Czeslawa was killed in 1943.

Stig Abell (@StigAbell) I can't stop staring at this: 14-year-old Czeslawa Kwoka, killed in Auschwitz. Image recoloured by @marinamaral2. #HolocaustMemorialDay pic.twitter.com/D3u2QCTrGi

Saint Louis Manifest was still tweeting as news of Donald Trump’s executive order banning Syrian refugees from the US emerged.

Benjamin Pauker (@benpauker) Noted for history: A Trump administration executive order banned refugees from entering the United States on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Elisabeth Malkin (@ElisabethMalkin) If you have forgotten when it means to turn away refugees, please follow @Stl_Manifest. They were turned away in 1939 and murdered.

• This article was amended on 16 February 2017 to remove some tweets.