The lessons of the Holocaust were transmitted to a new generation via Twitter on Sunday as two survivors joined a live question and answer session on the social networking site.

The session, organised by the Holocaust Educational trust to coincide with the annual Holocaust Memorial Day, saw users put questions to Zigi Shipper and Eva Clarke.

Mr Shipper, a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and Auschwitz, was up first, answering questions on how he kept his faith in humanity and how he responded to Holocaust deniers.

"You've got to remember that 95 per cent of people are good human beings. People only talk about the bad people," replied Mr Shipper.

Mrs Clarke, whose mother went into labour with her on the journey between Auschwitz and Mauthausen concentration camps, was asked whether she felt the world had changed enough since the Holocaust, and what her view was of modern Germany.

Asked why more non-Jews did not come to the aid of victims of the Nazis, she wrote: "You can't generalise about bystanders. Some didn't help, some did. It's hard to put yourself in their position."

A spokesman for HET said: "This is a really innovative and different way for survivors to engage with young people on their level to make their experiences relevant to them."

"It's amazing that [HET ] are giving people the chance to #askZigi. So glad I got the opportunity to meet him & hear his testimony," said one participant.