FW: Leibler Mailing List: The erosion of Holocaust memory

[Robert Hand]

> Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 05:41:26 +0000
> From: bornt...@att.net
> Subject: Fw: Leibler Mailing List: The erosion of Holocaust memory
>
>
>
> --- On Wed, 5/4/16, Isi Leibler <edi...@WordfromJerusalem.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Isi Leibler <edi...@WordfromJerusalem.com>
> > Subject: Leibler Mailing List: The erosion of Holocaust memory
> > To: bornt...@att.net
> > Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2016, 11:45 PM
> >
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> > newsletter
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> > May
> > 4, 2016
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> > The erosion of Holocaust memory
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> > IIsiPPho
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> > My
> > grandson's school group at Warsaw Ghetto
> > monument
> >
> > My grandparents and many members of my
> > family were exterminated by the Nazis. I would probably also
> > have perished had my parents not had the foresight of
> > leaving Antwerp when I was a young infant on what was
> > probably the last boat to sail to Australia before the
> > outbreak of war.
> >
> > Like survivors, those of us whose
> > families were murdered by the Nazis retain the memory of the
> > Holocaust as part of our DNA. Indeed, in most cases this
> > also applies to our children, who share the sensitivities of
> > their parents.
> >
> > But today, 70 years later, for our
> > grandchildren, most of whom were deprived of the opportunity
> > of hearing their families agonize over memories, the
> > relevance of the Holocaust will fade unless there is a
> > conscious effort to convey it within the framework of their
> > history.
> >
> > The extent to which Holocaust
> > commemoration is maintained by future Jewish generations
> > will largely be determined by the educational approach and
> > curriculum provided in the Israeli school system.
> >
> > We should be under no illusions. The
> > so-called Holocaust commemoration in Europe and other
> > Western countries is a sham. In most cases it trivializes
> > the Holocaust by linking it to other mass murders. In fact,
> > commemoration has become so broad and universal that the
> > words “Jew” and “anti-Semitism” are not even
> > mentioned in the European Union’s lengthy call to its
> > constituents to engage in Holocaust remembrance.
> >
> > If Holocaust awareness truly existed, it
> > would have been inconceivable for the current anti-Semitic
> > tsunami to have swept through the continent of Europe, which
> > was soaked with the blood of the 6 million Jews murdered by
> > the Nazis and their collaborators.
> >
> > In fact, a survey of adults in 101
> > countries reveals that only 54% had ever heard of the
> > Holocaust, and a large proportion of these considered it a
> > myth.
> >
> > With the actual number of survivors
> > dramatically diminishing, Holocaust deniers have
> > proliferated and indeed today there is a growing campaign,
> > spearheaded by Islamic anti-Semites, promoting Holocaust
> > denial.
> >
> > As Jews, I believe that it is our
> > obligation to ensure that this dark chapter of our history
> > is commemorated and studied by future Jewish generations.
> > This is not merely to honor our martyrs but to appreciate
> > the contrast between the Jewish people today, which, with
> > the revival of nationhood, can defend itself, and the
> > powerlessness of those dark years when the world stood by as
> > we were being murdered. If we follow the double standards
> > and bias currently leveled against us, particularly at the
> > United Nations, often with the support or indifference of
> > the Europeans, we must appreciate how fortunate we are today
> > that we are able to rely on our own defenses.
> >
> > There are some, including far-left
> > Israelis, who seek to scale down or even cancel Holocaust
> > commemoration within Israel on the spurious grounds that it
> > is exploited to create an environment of Jewish victimhood
> > and as a means of extorting money and political favors from
> > European countries.
> >
> > This would be disastrous because it is
> > imperative that future generations understand what happened
> > to their European ancestors and realize that the state in
> > which they live cannot be taken for granted.
> >
> > As we commemorate our Exodus from
> > Egyptian slavery to freedom, so we are obliged to remind
> > ourselves how, after 2,000 years of exile and immediately in
> > the wake of the most barbaric genocide, we revived Jewish
> > nationhood in the State of Israel.
> >
> > My grandson returned a few weeks ago
> > from his school’s journey to the Polish death camps. Even
> > though his family was already sensitive to the Holocaust,
> > the visit had a profound impact on him.
> >
> > I was therefore deeply saddened to read
> > that the principal of Tel Aviv’s prestigious elite secular
> > Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, Dr. Zeev Dagani, proposes
> > canceling annual trips to the Nazi death camps. He claims
> > that “there are many youth who are not emotionally built
> > to grasp the reality of the horror. It is too much for them
> > and I think it is too early to send 16- and 17-year-olds to
> > trips to Poland. It is a trip which requires emotional and
> > intellectual maturity.”
> >
> > The reality is that if adequate
> > education is provided and the tours are led by well-informed
> > guides, the results have proven to be extraordinary and have
> > major beneficial impact on the participants, not only in
> > terms of comprehending the Holocaust, but equally so in
> > relation to their understanding and appreciation of the
> > Jewish state.
> >
> > There is a valid complaint that the
> > escalating costs prevent some students from participating.
> > This is something the government should be reviewing with
> > the aim of providing subsidies to enable all students who
> > wish to participate. It would prove to be a worthwhile
> > long-term educational investment.
> >
> > Of course, it is sickening to hear of
> > occasional groups visiting a death camp and engaging in
> > drinking parties in the evening or interspersing their visit
> > with a shopping day in Warsaw. Under such circumstances, it
> > would undoubtedly be preferable to cancel such trips.
> >
> > But most trips are well-planned and have
> > immense educational impact, highlighting the emergence of a
> > Jewish state like a phoenix from the ashes of the Holocaust
> > – something that no classroom study course can
> > replicate.
> >
> > I listened in awe as my grandson
> > described how his group visited Rachel’s Tomb before the
> > flight, and on their return, assembled for a moving ceremony
> > at the Western Wall. He described how some of the most
> > moving moments for him were not merely the camps, the
> > museums or even the crematoria and gas chambers. What
> > touched him most profoundly was standing on the soil where
> > hundreds of thousands of Jews had been brutally murdered and
> > where their bodies had been buried in mass graves.
> >
> > The immensity of what transpired during
> > that terrible period was further realized when he and his
> > companions related to numbers comprising their own home
> > communities and appreciated that more than the equivalent of
> > an entire community were murdered in one single day.
> >
> > The trip also highlighted the
> > extraordinary thriving religious, cultural and social life
> > of the great Jewish communities in Poland – snuffed out
> > overnight by the Nazis.
> >
> > Unless we continue to educate the
> > younger generations so they appreciate the lessons of the
> > Holocaust and its relationship to our status today as an
> > independent Jewish state able to defend itself as well as
> > providing a haven for Jews in distress, we will have
> > betrayed our solemn commitment to remember. And this
> > terrible episode will simply become a footnote of
> > history. 
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >  
> >
> > Isi Leibler may be contacted at ilei...@leibler.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > This column was originally published in
> > the
> > and
> >
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> > Browse more articles like this at www.wordfromjerusalem.com
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> > This message was sent to bornt...@att.net
> > from:
> > Isi Leibler | edi...@WordfromJerusalem.com |
> > Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem | PO Box 4562 | Jerusalem,
> > NA 91041, Israel
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