Holocaust Names - Radio Editorial

Radio Editorial

Holocaust Revisited
by Shlomo Fleischmann

A few Holocaust survivors are still with us. A few of them may still remember the time before the Holocaust. They all had a tough life and experienced unheard of atrocities. By the fact of surviving, they beat Hitler and his despicable cahoots. Many found it as their duty to speak up and warn the future generations. They explain the inconceivable, how a civilized people could be turned into brutal murderers, and even be proud of their misdeeds. They warn about the capability of some people to create such enormous hate that can blind men in recognizing right from wrong.

Some of them remember the time when the Nazis not yet killed, only promised to kill the Jews. The Jews were described in newspaper and radio (Television was not yet available) as the scum of the earth. Jews were blamed to be thieves, rapists, and child killers. Innumerable crimes were put on the Jews, to justify in advance the planned Genocide. The Nazis made no secret, but what was the reaction of the Jews and the world?

Many Jews reacted with confidence and even understanding. They said: "well, anti-Semitism is not new to us. Just look at our history. And as we always have survived, this also will pass. Some of the very smart Jews, even found a reason for self-criticism. A Jew should not be so visible. Maybe there are really too many Jewish doctors and bankers? And the exit doors where still open and many entrance doors still available. Most of them were not used.

When the unbelievable happened and the Nazis materialized their threats, sudden shock sat in and handwringingly questions were asked: "Why did we not notice this before, why didn't we act before?" But it was too late.

The question we have to ask ourselves is "Are we not in a similar situation today than we have been before the Holocaust? Do we have the right to shrug off the Arab threats against a similar number of endangered Jews than at Hitler-time? Is the openly announced intention to throw the Jews into the sea less believable than the words of Hitler or Goebbels?

But most of us did not learn the lesson, do not see the writing on the wall. Complacency obtrudes justified concern and obstructs for us to see the true balance of power and hateful motivations, which stand against Israel. We have to see the Arab threat as very ominous. Israel stands against 22 Arab states with a population of about 200 million, and the UN - swayed by many more Islamic states and of course, all of them influenced by oil.

As people have the tendency to put the head into the sand, it is the obligation of those who know, who experienced it, to warn. And these are the last Survivors. When they looked shivering death into the eye, they asked: where is the world? Who is going to save us? Nobody answered, it was too late.

Now it is not too late. Now is the time. Now as then, we can not afford to say that it does not rain, when dark clouds are closing in. We have to pull together and become hard-liners for the rightful existence of the only one state the Jews have. We will not get a second chance. Each of us can do something - protest the biased Media, use your right as constituent, share Jewish activities and pray.

- I am Shlomo Fleischmann

Click here to see more articles