January 28, 2019
Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and my inbox was filled with a frightful variety of reminders. Much of it from Germany which takes its memorial duty seriously, with renewed effort, it looks like, given how NeoNazism raises its ugly head.
Many individuals tweeted about signs in their neighborhoods of crimes past – and present – with a shared warning: Wehret den Anfängen – Nip things in the bud.
Organizations insisted that government representatives of the far-right AfD party were NOT welcome a memorial events, given that they had walked out when the former president of the Jewish Council gave a speech on the Holocaust in parliament.
Politicians warned: Memorial culture is under attack from the extreme Right (Heiko Maas, German minister of foreign affairs.)
Editorials stressed our vulnerability to hatred and the correspondent need to educate, again and again, about the tenets of democracy.
And how did world leaders commemorate the day? Chancellor Angela Merkel called on every single citizen to help fight anti-Semitism. Prime minister Theresa May visits Holocaust Educational Trust. Trudeau apologizes for inaction and apathy during the Nazi era. And our very own? Tweets something out in the afternoon and spews misleading anti-immigrant hate message some minutes later.
In line with Malaysia’s prime minister who would not allow hook-nosed Israeli athletes to partake in the paralympics swimming event. (Malaysia is now banned from hosting it.https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/malaysia-stripped-of-hosting-paralympics-championship-over-ban-of-israelis-1.6875420
Closer to home you have Jewish museums call for remembrance, including our very own.
And you have fearful reports on the increase of anti-Semitic hate crimes and an analysis of what underlies them, hate contagion, here:
What moved me most, was a continued stream of images from the St. Louis Manifest: the names of those ship passengers who were returned by the US to face their death in German concentration camps.
What made me think the hardest was an editorial from Germany (I am summarizing some excerpts): the author is worried that Holocaust remembrance has become a calcified ritual. Speeches in parliament by representatives of the victims, eloquent survivors or smart professors that try to appeal to our conscience, are followed by sad violin sonatas and wreath laying at the graves.
And then modern Germany takes a Selfie against the background of a horrid past that we have “worked through.” He then goes on to describe what is unfolding not just in Germany but worldwide, a turn to authoritarianism that rejects the lessons of the past and insists on minimizing the horror – if not existence – of the Holocaust. His conclusion: Auschwitz doesn’t help to prevent Auschwitz. It takes more than that.
Music is a different piece of violin music, energizing to fight, by our very own Portland composer David Schiff whose music is deeply rooted in the Jewish canon.
Tricia Knoll
Thank you.
Philip Bowser
You always bring essential topics with new details. This year, more than any before, reminds me of the need to remember and then do additional work. Scary times…
Steve T.
Friderike, I can’t remember exactly when, but memories from about 1956 will never leave me. We were shown footage taken of concentration camps at the end of WWII. Naked, emaciated bodies being tossed into a huge open pit, sliding, rolling down. Incredibly horrific. All of us at Punahou school were shown what could still be shown today in every school in this country. I can still see them. And my heart is sad.