In October 2022, Montana Tucker, a Jewish influencer, singer and dancer, with more than 9 million TikTok followers, posted “How To: Never Forget,” a docuseries of her trip to Auschwitz. In a recent interview with second gentleman Doug Emhoff — the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris — at the White House, spoke about the impact of his own trip to Auschwitz.
“I’m forever changed for being there,” Emhoff, Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a vice president, told her, explaining that he was struck by the desolation and the barbed wire.
Tucker, who made headlines traveling to Poland with her mother, Michelle, and documenting her trip in a series of two-minute TikTok reels, “How To: Never Forget,” which YouTube picked up and edited into a single, 20-minute video. Tucker told Emhoff that her Zaide, or grandfather used to wear a pin every day that said ‘I’m a Survivor, Never Again, Never Forget.’”
“…We can’t allow this to happen again,” she told him.
Emhoff said he met an 80-year-old Jewish woman who told him she lived her whole life hiding her Judaism but after seeing him speaking about Judaism, she decided she wanted to love the rest of her days proudly.
“There is an epidemic of hate going on right now. It’s not just against Jews, it’s not just antisemitism, it’s against so many groups,” he said.
“The more I’m doing, she keeps pushing me to do more,” Emhoff said of his wife.
Tucker said she was sad people are scared to speak out.
Emhoff said he spoke to Jewish youth in Texas and told them to be proud and live without fear.
“We have your back, you’re not alone,” he said, repeating his message.
The 23-minute YouTube video shows that Tucker goes to Auschwitz, where he grandmother was sent. Many family members were killed in the Holocaust.
“It’s really important to learn about this history,” she says in the video.
Tour guide Zak Jeffay takes Tucker to the last synagogue built in Krakow. She said her grandfather had a good relationship for years with people who suddenly called him a “dirty Jew.”
She said she once posted about her grandparents being Holocaust survivors and someone sent her a message saying the Holocaust didn’t happen.
She cried when standing in the forest where about 6,000 Jews were murdered.
Tucker says she realized she has lost more family members than thought.
“I literally wouldn’t exist if my grandmother didn’t survive from this terrible place,” she said.
Of the 1.1 million people killed in Auschwitz 900,000 were Jews.
She said she thought her talent was to dance and entertain.
“It’s now way bigger than that,” she said.
Watch the full interview with Doug Emhoff on Montana’s Youtube:
