Is Never Again Now?

“Never Again” has been used by politicians, writers, activists, and Holocaust survivors to foster awareness of the warning signs of genocide, and to emphasize that Jews will never be victims again. But with the Hamas atrocities the phrase has taken on stark and horrific meaning.

The hashtag #NeverAgainIsNow is growing in popularity. The brutality and carnage of Hamas has been revealed in bloodied bodies, decimated homes, empty cribs, and broken toys haphazardly scattered in once-idyllic kibbutz settings. But as Israel prepares for a ground war, will the graphic descriptions of Hamas’ horrifying actions make a difference?

But as Israel prepares for a ground war, will the graphic descriptions of Hamas’ horrifying actions make a difference?

When General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, first saw the unbelievable horrors at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald and the first Nazi death camp to be liberated by U.S. forces in April 1945, he said: “The things I saw beggar description… The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick... I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”

Gen. Eisenhower invited members of Congress and journalists to come and insisted that local residents be forced to see the unspeakable horrors with their own eyes. Did it make a difference? Perhaps. But not enough to prevent acts of antisemitism and even pogroms in the wake of WW II.

Pogrom in Poland After the War

In July 1946 in Kielce, Poland – after the war in Europe was over for more than a year – an eight-year-old boy went missing. When he returned home two days later, he told his parents he had been kidnapped by a Jewish man in a green cap. This was a lie. The child had hitchhiked to his former neighborhood because he wanted to get cherries that one of the neighbors grew there. When he came home, his drunken father took him to the police station to complain. The boy fabricated the story about a Jewish man in a green cap kidnapping him and holding him hostage in the local Jewish Community Center. This was where 180 Holocaust survivors were living because they had no place else to go.

Word got out and a violent mob assembled to get revenge against the Jews. The police and militia were called in, but instead of defusing the situation they began shooting and dragging Jews from the building and into the courtyard, where local Poles viciously attacked them. Police and soldiers joined them in attacking Jews with stones, clubs, and pipes. Forty-two Jews were killed, and 40 others injured by the angry mob, while others stood by and watched. One year after the war, most people watched – either cheering on the perpetrators or standing idly by.

How could a pogrom have taken place a year after Europe was liberated? How could this have happened after three million Jews were murdered in Poland alone? Did the people of Kielce not remember, or did they not care?

Until this week, I believed this was a cautionary tale for today. I thought that if we kept speaking and writing about the Holocaust and emphasizing not only its immediate deplorable and shocking results, but also its devastating long-term impact, it would make a difference. It also crossed my mind that if there had been 24-7 media during the war and afterwards, perhaps some of the horrors of the Holocaust might have been averted.

No one can turn their head and pretend that they did not know. We must continue to demonstrate, speak, write, post, and financially support our Jewish family worldwide.

Now I’m not so sure. The essential questions that we continue to ask about the Holocaust eight decades later have been given new life by the Hamas atrocities: How did this happen? What is our responsibility to our fellow human beings? What do we do when we see evil in the world? How do we treat those who are different? Will our 24-7 news coverage make a sustained difference? Will Israel’s response usher in a new wave of understanding or antisemitism?

Do Not Remain Silent

In 2012, Elie Wiesel wrote: “'Never again' becomes more than a slogan: It's a prayer, a promise, a vow... never again the glorification of base, ugly, dark violence."

NeverAgainIsNow and that means that we cannot remain silent. As we continue to pray for the victims, the hostages, and their families, we wonder how we elevate these words from slogan to vow.

We are touched by the concern of our non-Jewish friends and allies in the United States and throughout the world. But we need their sustained commitment for the long haul. Just as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and other clergy marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in support of civil rights in the ‘60s, we must encourage and applaud non-Jewish clergy, celebrities, politicians, and ordinary citizens who stand with Israel.

As Jews, we know that we are responsible for one another. We live in an interconnected world today. No one can turn their head and pretend that they did not know. We must continue to demonstrate, speak, write, post, and financially support our Jewish family worldwide. As Hamas painfully demonstrated, an attack on one Jew is an attack on all. Let’s harness our voices, our hearts and our feet while the whole world watches and takes notice. Am Yisrael Chai.