Scary

November 30, 2018

Dear editor:

Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the U.S., with the number of anti-Semitic incidents increasing nearly 60% in 2017, per a report from the Anti-Defamation League earlier this year.  So many go unreported in the news that the country doesn’t recognize this rise of hatred, that has its roots going back over 2,000 years. 

In Europe, French Prime Minister Phillippe said earlier this month that after a decline over the past two years, the number of anti-Semitic acts jumped more than a scary 69% in the first nine months of 2018. Nearly 20% of 18-34 year old respondents in France said they had never heard of the Holocaust, per a CNN poll.  An amazing statistic considering the number of French Jews deported to concentration camps by the Nazis during WWII.

Many other Europeans are not aware of the Holocaust, and ant-Semitic beliefs are still widespread among residents of at least seven European countries, according to the poll taken in September by CNN.  A combined 1/3 of respondents said they knew “just a little” about the Holocaust or had “never heard of it.”

When it comes to knowledge of the Holocaust, Americans don’t fare much better.  According to a survey of Americans earlier this year, 11% had not heard of the Holocaust or weren’t sure they knew of it.  And more than 40% did not know what Auschwitz was—perhaps the most infamous of the Nazis’ concentration/killing camps.  To go to Auschwitz (which I have done) is the saddest and moving experience one can have.  Going thru the holding facilities, the gas chamber and human ovens is a sight you can never get out of your brain and heart. 

To not be aware of the systematic murder of 6,000,000 Jews just 75 years ago is absolutely amazing.  We aren’t talking about ancient history.  What are we teaching in our schools?  Ignorance such as this if allowed to grow, will only see a murderous repetition of not only Jewish people but of any religious, racial or nationality minority.