The families who passed on their Holocaust tattoo

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Nearly 70 years ago, Yosef Diamant had the number 157622 permanently inked on his arm by the Nazis at Auschwitz.

In a tribute to his suffering, his grandsdaughter Eli Sagir got the same tattoo on her arm - shortly followed by her mother and brother.

Although some have criticised such a decision for reappropriating the actions of the Nazis, which dehumanised its victims and left them scarred, Sagir thinks it's vital that her generation is reminded of the horrific abuse her family endured:

“All my generation knows nothing about the Holocaust,” said Sagir, 21, who has had the tattoo for four years. “You talk with people and they think it’s like the Exodus from Egypt, ancient history. I decided to do it to remind my generation: I want to tell them my grandfather’s story and the Holocaust story.”

The ten descendents interviewed in the NY Times all felt that their gesture came from a desire to be "intimately, eternally bonded to their survivor-relative."